Hong Kong Investment Chief Touts 8-to-1 Return Ratio on Capital Partnerships

Clara Chan Ka-chai stood before a room of 120 investors, fund managers, and government officials gathered in Bali for the inaugural Nusa Dua Forum, and delivered a simple arithmetic lesson about how Hong Kong's government-owned investment vehicle works. For every dollar the Hong Kong Investment Corporation deploys, she explained, it attracts more than eight dollars from international sources—sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, universities, the patient capital that moves slowly but moves decisively. The forum, organized jointly by the South China Morning Post and Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund Danantara, had assembled the machinery of global finance in one place: the people who decide where billions flow.

Chan was there to talk about partnership. The HKIC's recent results gave her something concrete to point to. In 2025, the corporation generated about HK$6.46 billion in investment income, a jump of 175 percent from the year before. The net internal rate of return landed at 14 percent. These numbers matter because they suggest a model is working—that when a government investment vehicle operates with discipline and attracts private capital as a co-investor rather than a sole operator, the returns can compound in ways that benefit everyone involved.

The panel discussion, moderated by SCMP publisher Tammy Tam, paired Chan with Oliver Weisberg, CEO of Blue Pool Capital, a setup designed to show how public and private investment thinking might align. The conversation circled around a central idea: that sovereign wealth funds cannot succeed in isolation. They need the infrastructure of official support—the regulatory clarity, the political backing, the long-term mandate that only governments can provide. But they also need the discipline and market acumen that private capital brings. When those two forces work together, the leverage multiplies.

Bali itself was the stage for this argument. The city is positioning itself as a global financial center, and the forum was part of that ambition. Bringing together Indonesian and Hong Kong officials alongside family office leaders and institutional investors created a kind of marketplace where ideas about capital deployment could be tested and refined. The 120 participants represented the actual decision-makers—the people who control trillions in assets and who decide whether to back a fund, a strategy, or a region.

What Chan's 8-to-1 ratio really describes is leverage of a particular kind. It is not debt leverage, which amplifies risk. It is partnership leverage—the ability to attract co-investors who believe in the same thesis and are willing to commit capital alongside you. This works only if the lead investor—in this case, the HKIC—has demonstrated competence and alignment of interests. The 175 percent year-on-year growth in investment income and the 14 percent net internal rate of return are the proof points. They show that the HKIC's capital is being deployed in ways that generate returns, which in turn makes other investors want to follow.

The timing of the announcement and the forum was deliberate. Hong Kong is working to maintain its position as a financial hub in a region where competition is intensifying. Singapore, Shanghai, and now Bali itself are all making claims on the same pool of global capital. By showcasing the HKIC's performance and its ability to attract international partners, Hong Kong was signaling that it remains a credible place to invest. The forum itself was part of that signal—a demonstration that Hong Kong's institutions can convene global capital and facilitate deals at scale.