Charles Cheng
Chairman of Societe Generale (China) Ltd.
Chairman of Societe Generale (China) Ltd.
Charles CHENG has been appointed as Chairman of Societe Generale (China) Ltd. since February 2021. Prior to that, Charles has 25 years of experience in investment banking, corporate finance, and entrepreneurship. As co-President of Byton, an EV start-up, he led the capital raising and
investment practice of the company. As a Senior Managing Director of Goldman Sachs China, he drove the financing and M&A business for major Chinese clients. As Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank Investment Bank China, he managed all China related cross border M&A.
Charles’ other experience included positions at Bank One/JP Morgan, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Alexander Proudfoot Management Consulting, Metropolitan Life and Peugeot SA. During his career, Charles has successfully led the completion of more than 25 billion of US dollars in cross-border financing and mergers and acquisitions including Sinopec’s US$2.5 billion in West African oilfield acquisitions, the largest Chinese investment into Africa of the time. Charles has been awarded several professional honors for his achievements in the corporate finance field including CCTV and Peking University jointly award “China’s Top Ten Financial Talents”.
Charles has a bachelor’s degree from Beijing Foreign Studies University, a master’s degree in industrial psychology from the University of Paris, and a master’s degree in business administration from HEC Paris Business School. Charles is a member of HEC International Advisory Board, Director of the 2005 Committee, Independent Director for FOTIC/SinoChem, industry mentor in Southern University of Sciences and Technology, and Beijing Foreign Studies University.
Charles was born in Hunan, China, and lives in Shanghai after many years in Europe, North America, Hongkong and Beijing. He is fluent in English, Chinese and French. He likes rowing, chorus and founded the male choir “Ocean Group”.