Colin Blackwell

A Business Owner, Company Director, Investment Manager and Investment Banker with all round experience of management, financing and risk. A pioneer of the Asian credit markets, Colin has over 30 years comprehensive business management, marketing, underwriting, trading and investment experience in fixed income, bond, loan and private debt markets, 25 with an Asia-Pacific focus, through several economic cycles. He started his career at Manufacturers Hanover (now JPMorgan) with various credit trading roles in London, New York & Hong Kong including establishing the firm‘s credit derivative business and head of trading in non-Japan Asia. Colin went on to head Merrill Lynch’s award winning Asian debt new issue businesses, responsible for pricing, underwriting and execution of new issue bonds, loans & private placements, launching more than US$ 30 billion of debt new issuance over a five-year period, including many market firsts, to top the regional league tables. Moving to the ‘buy’ side, he became a credit investor establishing two regional investment businesses. As Asia-Pacific MD of ECM Asset Management Limited (owned by Wells Fargo) he oversaw Asian regional credit & loan investments for one of Europe‘s most successful credit asset managers. He was also Investment Committee Chairman and COO at Opvs Group, an Asian focused credit hedge fund business he co-founded and co-owned in Singapore. More recently he has acted as an advisor to a number of international banks and investors over the acquisition or divestment of Asia-Pacific debt portfolio’s and now oversees a number of private investments in in a range of start up ventures including an ECG interpretation health-tech company, a trade finance facilitator, a chemical shipping business and a fishing and aquaculture venture in the Indian Ocean. Colin is a British national, a Hong Kong and Singapore permanent resident and holds a BA (Hons) degree in International Relations from University of Kent, Canterbury and a MBA in International Business from CASS Business School, London.