Five Japan-based financial services groups agreed on Friday to form a fund in partnership with sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) reported by Bloomberg to be up to $1.8bn in size.
Financial holding group Nomura Holdings, brokerage Daiwa Securities and banks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to set up a management entity for the fund.
The parties intend to raise between ¥100bn and ¥200bn ($890m to $1.78bn) for the fund, which is intended to boost industrial cooperation between Japan and China, Nomura spokesperson Kenji Yamashita told Bloomberg.
The firms have not disclosed the size of the investments they plan to make, though they did state that the MOU also sets out the terms of the fund’s structure.
All the Japan-based firms have been relatively active venture capital investors, particularly in their home country, while CIC has concentrated on large-scale investments in China. Its past deals include rounds for e-commerce group Alibaba, financial services provider Ant Financial and ride hailing service Didi Chuxing.
