Factbox: The Ong brothers' dealmaking prowess

Date:2011-09-03lile  Text Size:

(Reuters) - Richard and Charles Ong are two brothers who sit near the apex of Asia's dealmaking pile, having worked together on deals as varied as investing in pork producer Yurun Food (1068.HK) to snapping up rights to the world's No.2 lender China Construction Bank (0939.HK).

Richard, 45, previously ran private equity fund Hopu together with Chinese rainmaker Fang Fenglei, whom he knew from his days at Goldman Sachs (GS.N). Fang is said to be close to China's Vice-Premier Wang Qishan, as the pair had been colleagues at CICC.

Richard now runs RRJ Capital, which younger brother Charles has joined on a secondment.

Charles, 42, is a former Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) executive who became a managing director at Singapore state fund Temasek Holdings TEM.UL at the age of 33.

Here are some deals the pair have worked on, either separately or together:

* In May 2009, Temasek and Hopu Capital teamed up with China Life (2628.HK), the world's biggest insurer, to buy Bank of America's (BAC.N) $7.3 billion sale of its stake in China Construction Bank (601939.SS). Since then, BofA has again halved its holding in the Chinese lender.

* In May 2010, Temasek and RRJ Capital invested about $1 billion in natural gas producer Chesapeake Energy (CHK.N), together with other state investors including China Investment Corp (CIC) and Korea Investment Corp.

* In April 2010, Temasek and Hopu invested almost $250 million into pork producer Yurun (1068.HK). China's No.2 listed meat processor saw its shares see-saw in June this year, hit by rumors that it may be the target of a report by short-seller Muddy Waters.

* Charles was chief investment officer when Temasek decided to buy Thailand's biggest telecoms company Shin Corp from the family of then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Controversy over the deal erupted in Thailand, which hastened Thaksin's downfall. Thaksin's sister Yingluck is now Thailand's prime minister.

* In April 2008, Temasek and Hopu invested $300 million into Hong Kong-based Lung Ming, the owner of the Eruu Gol Mongolian iron ore mine.

* Temasek was an investor in both Hopu and RRJ Capital, having invested over $1 billion in both private equity funds when they were first started up.

* In 2009, Hopu bought the Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS.L) stake in China's No.4 lender Bank of China (3988.HK)(601988.SS) for about $400 million, when the UK lender was struggling to stay afloat.

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