China Minsheng Investment established itself last week as China’s first national-level private investment firm, according to Xinhua, signalling the progress the country is making in venture capital.
The firm has 59 large-sized, China-based private companies from the manufacturing, metallurgy, information technology, asset management, environmental protection, e-commerce, and renewable and conventional energy industries as its backers, and is starting off with RMB 50bn (8.1bn) of registered capital.
Minsheng was created by non-governmental chamber of commerce All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. No one shareholder can own a stake in Minsheng greater than 2% or lower than 0.6%.
The formation of Minsheng comes at a time when the Chinese government is making noises regarding opening up more of its industries to private investment as it seeks to maintain growth.
Minsheng ntends to form subsidiaries in a range of sectors including new energy, international transportation, real estate, capital and logistics. The firm is also setting up offices in London and Hong Kong in order to collaborate in investments with foreign entities.