Social Stability
"Give us tens of thousands of workers from a bankrupt factory, and we have the tools to solve the issues of social stability," said Chen, who also sits on the board of Reorient Group. "But when it comes to the assets, we need someone else because we don't have that experience."
The pace of restructuring will accelerate as SASAC wants to reduce the number of state-owned firms from about 130 to about 80, according to Chen.
There are no guarantees for Boyer and other bankers tying their futures to China. Reorient Group posted a pretax loss of HK$8.8 million ($1.13 million) for 2011, largely on costs related to building up staff after Ko pulled the company out of liquidation proceedings and re-listed it on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
China's expansion overseas reminds some of Japan's struggle to expand, said Paul Schulte, who left Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings Inc. in 2010 to join CCB International Securities Ltd., the overseas investment bank of China Construction Bank Corp. in Beijing.
'Blow Up?'
"Major funds that wouldn't take a meeting with me before now have accounts with CCB," Schulte, a financial strategist, said. "But people still ask: are you going to blow up like the Japanese?"
Nomura is struggling with its 2008 acquisition of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. operations after two top bankers who crossed over departed earlier this year. Daiwa Securities Group Inc., also based in Tokyo, cut staff in Hong Kong last month.
Boyer says the risk is not about money, even though he has two ex-wives and three children to support.
"Being backed or endorsed by a state-owned enterprise can't hurt," he said. "But it's really the opportunity to build something and grow it."