Independent M&A advice when China is the deciding factor
15+ years in cross-border M&A · Industrial · USD $3bn + advised · Hong Kong · Global
Chartroom Advisors is a Hong Kong based independent M&A Advisor focusing on cross-border transactions related to China’s industrial sector.
The asset does not have to sit in China for China to decide the outcome.
We read both sides of the corridor, the road less taken. We find it early, in both languages — and it shows up in price.
What We Offer
Sell-side
We act as financial adviser to corporates, sponsors and private shareholders on the sale of a business: divestitures and carve-outs from multinational parents, sponsor exits, and owners bringing a business to market for the first time. For Chinese and non-Chinese sellers alike.
Buy-side
We advise Chinese and international acquirers on acquisitions in the industrial sector, from assessing a target through to terms. In this corridor, access and diligence are harder than valuation.
Complex situations
We advise on transactions that turn on regulatory or national security review, or a joint venture that has to be unwound before anything else can start.
Where We Started
Selina Cao
Selina Cao founded Chartroom Advisors in 2025, after fifteen years in investment banking in Hong Kong, specifically focusing on cross-border transactions. She has advised on more than US$3 billion of cross-border transactions across Asia, Europe, North America, Australia and Africa, each with a China angle, including at prior firms.
Education
BSc in Accounting and Finance, London School of Economics
International Baccalaureate, Chinese International School
Work Experience
Deutsche Bank · UBS · GF Securities
Life Experience
Hong Kong · London · Vancouver · Singapore · Hangzhou
Lillian Cong
Lillian Cong joins Selina as a key founding member and brings extensive cross-border transaction experience across China, the U.S., India and Southeast Asia. She has provided dedicated advisory support to leading global funds including Mubadala and KKR, with a proven track record of successfully executing complex multi-jurisdiction deals across these core markets.
Education
BSc in Quantitative Finance, University of Hong Kong
Work Experience
HSBC · GF Securities
Life Experience
Hong Kong · Singapore · Shenyang
Why Us
Mid-market focused, for multinationals and private equity sponsors.
Experience in both markets
A read on the other side
We have worked inside a global investment bank and inside a leading Chinese securities house, and we work in Mandarin and in English. In cross-border transactions, culture decides more outcomes than price does. That experience tells us what a Chinese acquirer's approval timetable really depends on, and why a Western seller has stopped responding — before either becomes a problem.
Team scale, by choice
The deal team does not change
In the industrial sector, China is never a side question. It sets global capacity, end demand and acquisition activity, and it is often the reason a board is considering a transaction at all. We cover one sector, not ten.
Where China is never incidental
One sector, not ten
Large institutions run standardized processes. At several hundred mandates a year they have no choice. We are built the other way. The decisions that matter are made by a few people on each side, and a bigger deal team does not change that — it adds distance between the people gathering information and the people using it.
Bridging the gap
Differences that can be priced
The same industry is rarely comparable across regions. Chinese and Western capacity was built at different times, under different capital costs and different policy, and thirty years of that compounds into structurally different margins. The same is true of regulatory approval: each side reads the other's process as an obstacle, when a different question is simply being asked. We benchmark both and explain where the differences come from. What can be explained can be managed. What can be managed gets closed.
Recent Transactions
