Supported by the Victorian state government and delivered by Melbourne Convention Bureau and Visit Victoria, Melbourne will host the inaugural Asia Pacific Financial and Innovation Symposium on April 16.
The event is expected to be attended by thousands of financial services professionals and will take place at Crown venue The Palladium, which can seat 2,500 in theatre.
Speakers at the event include investment and private equity heavyweights, Lee Ainslie, founder of Maverick Capital, Henry Cornell of Cornell Capital, Robert Kapito, president of BlackRock, Kathleen McCarthy, co-head of Blackstone’s real estate division, Steve Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, and James Zelter, president of Apollo.
BlackRock is said to have around $10 trillion in assets under management, while some others in this group have hundreds of billions of dollars in assets under management. The event venue, Crown, is itself owned by Blackstone.
This is the first time an event of this kind has been held in the region.
“Events like this build on our strong record of attracting top financial businesses to Victoria, creating economic growth and thousands of jobs,” said Victoria’s minister for economic growth, Tim Pallas.
“Financial services are an important part of Victoria’s economy and this inaugural global expo in Melbourne will provide an opportunity for our local industry to showcase our capabilities on the world stage.”
Meanwhile Victoria’s tourism and major events minister Steve Dimopoulos said the event proved the worth of the state’s business events industry.
“Securing this event demonstrates Victoria’s world-class business events industry and ability to attract global leaders to experience everything our state has to offer – supporting local business, jobs and Victoria’s economy.”
