Recently, President Xi Jinping visited Britain and signed a commercial agreement worth about GBP 40 billion. Trade cooperation between China and Britain has risen rapidly. On November 3rd, the 3rd CBBC China Outbound Conference was held in Beijing, which provided 100 British exclusive investment projects across 13 fields and over 20 regions to nearly 200 Chinese investors and upgraded Sino-UK cooperation to an even higher level. Yue Lei, Senior Vice President of Sanpower Group, was invited to attend the conference and give the keynote address.

The conference was during a golden age of Sino-UK relations. British visitors had a large showing, including not only government representatives in regions such as Sheffield, Birmingham and Liverpool, but also Lord Sassoon, Chairman of the China-Britain Business Council, former Minister of State of the UK Treasury. Michael Charlton, British Minister to China and Acting Director of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) in China, was also present and spoke at the event. Chinese guests were not without heavy hitters, including representatives from the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, Western Development Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, China International Contractors Association and China Silk Road Fund.

Among the nearly 200 enterprises taking part in the conference, only two Chinese enterprises received the opportunity to take the floor. Yue Lei, on behalf of Sanpower Group, gave a speech about his experiences as a Chinese investor in Britain and shared Sanpower Group’s overseas M&A experiences. Yue shared in his speech that, “The flavour of fish and chips that President Xi enjoyed during his visit to Britain still remains. The China-Britain Business Council held the 3rd CBBC China Outbound Conference at an opportune moment, which fully embodies China-Britain Business Council’s seizing of opportunities to follow trends and continuously inject positive energy into the development of bilateral trade and economic relations”. Afterwards, he introduced Sanpower’s development in Britain. Last year, Nanjing Cenbest Group acquired a British department store called House of Fraser with a history that stretches across 166 years, and this year, Yuan Yafei—Chairman of Sanpower Group—launched the Wildlife Conservation Fund Project with Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge. Finally, Yue hoped that Chinese and British entrepreneurs can become friends, ride the Sino-UK “golden train” and work together to strengthen cooperation as well as strive to develop in bilateral markets. They will also inject vitality and power into the second decade of the current golden age for Sino-UK relations and comprehensive Sino-UK strategic partnership.

The Investment and M&A experiences Sanpower Group shared have seen enthusiastic attention. In later topic discussions, Yue Lei was the one who was asked the most among the four guests. Investors and reporters from China and Britain frequently asked questions focusing on Sanpower Group’s overseas management theories, Chinese market strategy for House of Fraser and difficulties during M&A. Yue Lei quoted many passages from Chinese literature when answering questions from the audiences such as, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, “It is fact that all things are different” and “There is harmony in diversity”. The audiences burst into thunderous applause for his answers. This not only fully embodied the Confucian management theories present at Sanpower Group, but also embodied his profound experiences with Chinese literature. After the Q&A forum finished, many guests still longed for more and asked about Yue Lei and Sanpower’s M&A experiences and their stories concerning “going global”.