Johnny Hon is chairman and chief executive of Hong Kong-based venture capital outfit Global Group. It’s fair to say that some of the companies brought to London by Hon, who has a PhD in psychiatry from Cambridge, are as colourful as the man himself.

Chinese lottery business Betex had to delist from AIM in August last year after police in China detained staff on suspicion of fraud, leading to the resignations of chief executive Peter Greenhill and financial director Stuart Barker.

Hon, who chairs and acted as temporary chief executive before the appointment of Jeremy Longley, is philosophical about what happened. ‘Some of the younger companies are riskier by nature,’ he says. ‘One of the problems is that people cannot run a business in China by remote control. You have to be there on the ground.’

Presently, Hon is involved with AIM mining concern Central China Goldfields and PLUS venture Global Education Group, an investment and consultancy concern – neither have set the market alight.

Floating away
Global Group will look to float some of the 40 companies on its books in the near future. ‘I get satisfaction from growing a business from a start-up to an IPO,’ comments Hon. ‘The process is that you invest in, say, ten ventures. Three will go bust and another four won’t do much. But, for the three that work out, you normally get back at least ten times your stake. That’s the dynamic of what we work to.’

China-focused Hon is inundated with prospects, including copper and gold mining companies and alternative energy plays. ‘There are more deals to be had in Hong Kong than capital, so you have to be selective,’ he says, adding that it’s now easier to raise funds in China, Hong Kong and the revamped exchange in Singapore than the UK. ‘There is a lot more money in Hong Kong, coming mainly from China. Basically, it’s better in Asia at this moment in time.’

Uncertainty in the West has compounded doubts that certain investors had about the junior markets. Hon is sure AIM will bounce back – ‘it is depressing in London at the moment, but things can change quickly’ – yet he sees PLUS as structurally unsound and confusing for investors. He even suggests the tertiary exchange was better in its OFEX days.

‘Companies had more liquidity on OFEX than PLUS. On PLUS, they divide companies into two categories, PLUS-quoted and PLUS-listed. I think they have spent a long time building the PLUS-listed [platform], but I feel they have neglected the PLUS-quoted companies.’

In Hon’s view, the two platforms should be merged. ‘At the moment there is basically no liquidity for most of the PLUS-quoted companies. When you list, you want to create value, not get into a situation where value can be destroyed. We won’t list any companies on PLUS until the whole thing improves.’

The world’s boardroom
Asia is Hon’s focus for the meantime, although he frequently travels to London, regarding the capital as the world’s boardroom for striking deals. ‘You don’t get that kind of diversity in Hong Kong, Tokyo or New York. London has people from everywhere, including the Middle East and Russia. It’s exciting. If you have a deal, even if it’s a bit risky, people will still talk to you.’

Of all Hon’s current interests, he bubbles with enthusiasm about Global Entertainment Group, endeavouring to fill the entertainment gap in China by building cinemas. ‘China only has 2,000 cinemas. The US has 50,000 and yet China has four times the population. By 2019, there will be a higher number of middle-class people in China than in the US.’

Well travelled and connected, 36-year-old Hon’s own website has numerous pictures of him hob-knobbing with politicians. He describes charity work as his hobby – one of the reasons he left medicine and went into business was to ‘help people and do more’.

Erudite and affable, he still has time to prove that his passion for business can genuinely translate into value for investors.

Central China Goldfields	AIM	£2.55m	1.75p	0.00p
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