Sequoia China founder Neil Shen acquired Singapore residency

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Good morning — we begin at the moment with a scoop out of Singapore.

Neil Shen, China’s most outstanding tech investor, acquired everlasting residency within the city-state and later opened an workplace there for his $56bn enterprise capital agency as tensions rose between Washington and Beijing.

The billionaire founding father of Sequoia China, famend for early investments in Alibaba, ByteDance and Shein, was granted the standing earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic, based on three folks accustomed to the matter.

Shen’s agency, which rebranded final 12 months as HongShan, subsequently expanded into Singapore, opening an workplace within the monetary hub because it cut up from US-based Sequoia final June.

HongShan has additionally inspired a few of its China-based portfolio corporations with world ambitions to arrange entities in Singapore because the pandemic — and a few, like Beijing-based Moonshot AI, have already been established.

Shen turned an early mover in a pattern that turned replicated many occasions over by rich Chinese language with ties to the nation’s tech sector. Many shifted to low-tax, steady Singapore amid strict pandemic lockdowns within the mainland in addition to President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on tech corporations.

“Neil’s choice . . . made it so much simpler for others to comply with after that,” one of many folks mentioned, including the transfer was “spoken about” in Chinese language enterprise circles although it has not change into publicly recognized till now. Right here’s extra on the Chinese language enterprise figures who’ve established a presence in Singapore.

And right here’s what I’m retaining tabs on at the moment:

• Financial information: India publishes third-quarter GDP figures, whereas China releases official manufacturing and non-manufacturing buying managers’ index information.

• South Korea physician strikes: As we speak is the government-set deadline for putting trainee medical doctors to finish a mass walkout or face suspension and prosecution.

• Pakistan: Parliament convenes for the primary time since disputed elections earlier this month, with the nation dealing with dire financial circumstances.

Be part of us in Hong Kong on March 11 for a breakfast occasion (8.15 — 9.45am) with Miles Johnson, FT’s investigative reporter and host of hit podcast Sizzling Cash: New Narcos, and the FT’s Asia editor Robin Harding. Locations are restricted — e mail [email protected] to order an area.

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Take a break from the information

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Extra contributions from George Russell and Gordon Smith