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Richard Laing
Chief Executive
CDC Group plc
Richard Laing is Chief Executive of CDC based in London. CDC provides capital for investment in sustainable private sector businesses in the less developed countries. It has assets of approximately US$2 billion. He is responsible for the overall direction of the company and has specific portfolio responsibility for power investments, which constitutes roughly a third of the balance sheet.
Richard joined CDC in January 2000 as Finance Director. He was responsible for the financial affairs of the group as well as looking after part of the portfolio. He was responsible for the successful sale of CDCís cement business in Central Africa and for various other significant agri-business disposals. He was appointed Chief Executive in July 2004 following the spin-out of the fund management team.
Prior to CDC, Richard spent 15 years at De La Rue where he held a number of positions both in the UK and overseas, latterly as Group Finance Director. He was a non-executive director of Camelot plc. Prior to this he worked in agribusiness in developing countries and at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Richard is a director of Pacific Rim Palm Oil Pte Ltd, who are responsible for the management and operation of oil palm plantations built up by CDC over a number of years in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Richard has recently been invited to sit on the Council of the Overseas Development Institute, the UK’s leading independent think-tank on international development whose interest focuses on growth strategies, foreign direct investment and business partnerships. He is a graduate of Cambridge University where he obtained an MA in Engineering.