Shipston Group Limited is a Bahamas-based private equity firm founded and directed by Michael Dingman, a well-known international financier and philanthropist. An alumnus of the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, Dingman ('55) established the Smith School's Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship with a $2 million gift in 1987, which was followed by subsequent gifts totaling $4 million that expanded the center's support of emerging growth companies, student scholarships and programs, and the center's entrepreneur-in-residence program. Dingman's firm, Shipston Group, holds a number of diversified international investments in the United States, Russia, Caspian Sea region and China. The company's China operations are headed by James Dingman and Shamel T. Rushwin. Its Beijing-based representative office seeks to identify investment opportunities focusing on a number of industries: automotive, industrial manufacturing, energy and transportation, and raw materials. To date, a number of rewarding investments have arisen across unique and diverse industries including; Maple Leaf Education system, Luyuan Electric Vehicle CO, and a strategic partnership with Balloch Group (a leading independent advisory and merchant banking firm).