Private investment conglomerate enters market with RMB 50 billion

BEIJING - China Minsheng Investment Corp Ltd (CMIC) has been unveiled in Shanghai as a private conglomerate with more than US$8 billion in assets designed to promote China’s blossoming private investment in domestic and overseas markets. Intended to be the private equivalent of China Investment Corp, the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, CMIC includes as shareholders  well-known private companies as Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd and Oceanwide Co Ltd, but most are lesser known investment companies. In total, the conglomerate’s shareholders have combined assets of about RMB 1 trillion.

CMIC Chairman, Dong Wenbiao, describes the enterprise as “an experiment not only for China’s private sector but the entire economy as well”, with ambitious goals set for the following industries: renewable energy, iron and steel, mining logistics, real estate, property management, corporate aircraft, investment banking, strategic equity investment and overseas investment.

Among its goals are plans to develop the world’s second-largest aircraft company within five years, as well as investing US$1.5 billion in a European headquarters in London, destined to facilitate the flow of Chinese private capital into Europe.

Private investment has faced its fair share of hindrance in China, with State-owned Enterprises presenting a cold shoulder: According to official statistics, private investment growth in China from January-July 2014 showed an on-year fall of 3.5% to 19.6%. www.webershandwick.cn (ATI).