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- BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is launching its first mutual fund offering in China, according to Bloomberg.
- The fund will target sectors that are seeing swift growth in China, including energy, retirement services, and digital transformation.
- The new fund comes as regulators ramp up their efforts against firms from tech to tutoring.
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BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is launching its first mutual fund offering in China even as the government's regulatory campaign continues to escalate, according to a Bloomberg report.
The China New Horizon Mixed Securities Investment Fund's debut is slated for August 30, coming two months after China's securities regulator gave BlackRock a license to sell its products to Chinese investors. The fund will hit on sectors that are seeing swift growth in China, including energy, retirement services, and "digital transformation," according to Bloomberg.
"BlackRock's first fund is coming right in time to catch a big wave of launches in the second half of the year," Sun Guiping, analyst at Shanghai Securities Co., told Bloomberg.
The new fund, as well as a separate quant product aimed at the wealthy, comes at a sensitive time in China, as regulators ramp up their efforts against firms from tech to tutoring.
In remarks last week, President Xi Jinping made clear his intention to crimp "excessive incomes" while "encouraging high income groups and businesses to return more to society." On Thursday, China's tax authority launched an investigation into wealthy tax dodgers, which some analysts said represented the leading edge of implementing Xi's "common prosperity" vision.
In this political environment, BlackRock is working with Chinese partners to roll out its new products. The investment fund will be distributed by three Chinese lenders, while the quant product is a joint venture with China Construction Bank and a state-owned Singaporean investment company, according to Bloomberg.