China has granted Aberdeen Asset Management, the UK-based asset manager, a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE) business licence.
The announcement comes as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, leads a trade delegation to China.
The licence, issued to a newly-created Aberdeen subsidiary by the Shanghai Administration for Industry & Commerce, Pilot Free Trade Zone Branch, will enable the company to set up an office there under the pilot Free Trade Zone.
Aberdeen has long wanted to expand its activities in China. The chief constraints have been access, control and manpower. The company has taken a gradual approach, having opened a representative office in 2007. That office has mainly performed liaison work.
Under the new venture, the plan is to add analysts to research local equities and business development staff. At present, Aberdeen does such research mainly from Hong Kong, preferring to do this in-house, and this will continue.
In the first stage asset-raising will focus on local institutions. The WFOE is based in the Free Trade Zone which brings further advantages.
Aberdeen stresses the importance of patience, however. It is not seeking quick returns but looking to build its presence step by step, mindful that, while liberalisation is good for the industry, opportunities are evolving fast.
That view is informed by the raft of new investment initiatives, which have included the likes of ‘Stock Connect’, the Hong Kong-China mutual recognition scheme for funds as well as the WFOE regime itself.
For Fórmate a Fondo
For Alicia Miguel Serrano