CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets

ABOUT THIS COMPANY:

A Canadian in Hong Kong

CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets is the Asian brokerage, investment banking and private equity arm of French banking giant Crédit Agricole. The company was the brainchild of Canadian-born and Hong Kong-based business journalist Gary Coull, who spun the firm off from a Hong Kong brokerage firm called Winfull Laing and Cruickshank. When massive French bank Crédit Lyonnais (which was acquired by Crédit Agricole in 2003) bought out the firm, Coull took charge and set up the groundwork for an international brokerage operating out of Hong Kong.

With Crédit Agricole's 65 percent ownership, Coull worked hard during his tenure as chairman to attract the attention of even more international investors to the Asian market. Part of his plan to do so included hosting annual investor forums, which featured splashy parties and appearances by international celebrities such as Elton John, James Brown and Macy Gray. Coull died in October 2006 of colon cancer, only one month after he was named one of the 50 most influential people in Asian financial history by FinanceAsia.