Had it not been for Britain's long period of imperial rule in Asia, it is unlikely that the founding partners of Woodstone Capital Partners, David Law and Nikhil Singh, would ever have crossed paths, let alone joined forces to launch one of Asia's newest boutique advisory businesses.
The distinguished family histories of both of them have been irrevocably moulded by Britain's presence in Asia.
Heirs of the empire
Singh has big boots to fill. He is, after all, a grandson of Jaipal Singh, a prominent advocate of Indian independence who was also a founding member of the Lok Sabah – the Indian legislature's lower house – an Oxford University hockey blue and captain of India's 1928 gold medal-winning Olympics hockey team.
David Law's grandfather, Henry Robert Stopford Law, played rugby for the British Army, served in India under the British Raj and was a senior officer under the White Rajah of Sarawak.
Both Law and Singh recently left Swiss Re, where they first met. Law, 42, ran Asian corporate finance for Swiss Re subsidiary Fox-Pitt, Kelton - a specialist stockbroking and advisory firm covering banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions.
Singh, 33, was responsible for Swiss Re's private-equity arm in Asia.
Woodstone Capital Partners aims to become what Law describes as a regional and sector-based specialist that has a China/India focus and financial institutions expertise.
"We believe that there is substantial investment within the China and Indian markets already," says Law. "In particular, there are significant capital flows between them."
This may seem a little unlikely, as the two mighty states are often described as arch-competitors. But Law has a point. According to Indian government statistics, bilateral trade grew from $1.16 billion in 1995 to $3.6 billion in 2001.
Estimates suggest that trade between the two has already exceeded $5 billion a year.
Initially based in Hong Kong and Bangkok, with an office planned to open in Mumbai early this year, Woodstone Capital Partners will provide specialist corporate finance and asset management services aimed at the wealthy Indian communities throughout Asia's key trading centres.
"It's not just Indians in India," says Law, "It's Indians in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore. There is a substantial non-resident population that are already substantial investors. We intend to capture this [investor base] through our private-equity side."
It might be an unusual focus for a new Asian corporate finance and asset management business, but for Law, that niche status is just the point.
"With the recession, the big investment banks have scaled back their Asian operations, especially in India. Many are focusing on Greater China and Korea. We intend to focus on the India-China cross flows."
The two countries have long been economic and political rivals, with China powering ahead in the past two decades. China's GDP per capita stood at $4,400 in 2002, compared with $2,540 for India, according to estimates published by the Central Intelligence Agency.
And the gap seems to be widening all the time. Real GDP growth rates show India at 4.3% per annum, trailing China's 8%.
Not such bitter rivals after all
But Law and Singh are poring over different numbers than raw GDP growth data. They claim that the level of bilateral trade is often understated and that India and China are not always the bitter rivals that they appear to be.
"Indians are superb traders," explains Law. "China is increasingly becoming the manufacturing base of the world, so a lot of Indians are heavily involved in manufacturing facilities [there] and exporting Chinese goods globally."
It is possible that China's rising economic tide may also help float its neighbour's economy too.
In a recently published economics study entitled Dreaming with BRICs: The path to 2050, Goldman Sachs estimated that the combined economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (the 'BRICs' from the title) could be larger than those of the G6 in 50 years.
And of the BRIC group, it is the economies of China and India that really stand out.
The report concludes: "In US dollar terms, China could overtake Germany in the next four years, Japan by 2015 and the US by 2039. India's economy could be larger than all but the US and China in 30 years."
Law also claims that India and China are not competing quite so head-on as many believe.
"They are developing non-competing businesses. For example, India excels in leather goods, software and outsourcing. China manufactures toys, consumer goods and technology hardware," Law says.
"We see a lot of scope to shift what's made in China to India and vice versa. That's going to increase as trade barriers come down," he adds.
Private and business banking
Woodstone Capital Partners expects to earn its crust from managing the private wealth of increasingly prosperous Indians, as well as from advising the companies of these entrepreneurs on M&A and capital raising strategies.
If Law and Singh are right about the changing nature of the relationship between Asia's two burgeoning economies, their ancestors' boots may not be too big to fill after all. They may even end up filling their own in the process.