Sunday 25 December 2016

"For a lot of investors, the name is all they know about a company"

Article in The Sydney Morning Herald:

"A Goldman you've never heard of is selling its shares in Hong Kong"

One snippet:


Goldman is planning an initial public offering in Hong Kong - but it's not the Goldman you've heard of.

Goldman Faith Holdings, a local engineering subcontractor which adopted its current name less than a month ago, lodged an application to list on the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange, according to a December 19 filing. The name of the company, which works on electrical systems for hospitals in the city, sports similarities to Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs in both English and Chinese.

The Chinese name of Goldman Sachs, which combines connotations of prestige and prosperity, is pronounced "go sing" by Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong. Goldman Faith also chose a Chinese name read as "go sing," using an identical first syllable and a second syllable with the same sound but different intonation. The subcontractor's Chinese name has the meaning of prestige and integrity.

"For a lot of investors, the name is all they know about a company," said Mike Leung, an investment manager at Hong Kong brokerage Wocom Securities. "The company is probably hoping that it gets more publicity and more people would pay attention."


It appears Jho Low is not alone in naming companies after well-known and trusted companies from the West, may be one does not need an education from Wharton Business School to do that.

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