Hua Xia Bank Co and F&C Asset Management Plc plan to set up a fund management venture in Beijing, which will raise funds and manage assets.

The Beijing-based lender will own 70.5 percent of the 250-million-yuan (US$37 million) venture and F&C will hold 19.5 percent, the bank said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday. A Chinese state-owned company is expected to be the third shareholder to hold the remaining stake, the statement said without elaborating.

The venture will be involved in fund raising, sale of funds, asset management and other businesses approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said Hua Xia Bank, which is partly owned by Deutsche Bank.

F&C is a London-based company that manages more than 102 billion euros (US$133.11 billion) for more than 3 million private and corporate clients.

Alain Grisay, chief executive officer of F&C, said earlier this month that it doesn't expect to see any financial benefits from the venture in the short term, but the investment gives the firm a platform for when the markets recover.

Nearly a dozen overseas companies including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS AG have set up fund management firms on the Chinese mainland while domestic firms, such as China Western Securities Co, also seek to tie up with overseas partners to tap their global expertise and expand business scope.

(Shanghai Daily March 19, 2009)