Scottish fund manager Martin Currie Investment Management (MCIM) has teamed up with one of the mainland's largest brokerages to give foreign investors access to China's A-share markets - originally intended solely for mainland investors.
A new US$36 million fund - the China Heartland Fund - is believed to be the first Western fund to tap China's two A-share markets, which have a combined market capitalisation of $200 billion and over 700 listed companies.
Mainland laws have barred foreign investors from investing in A-share markets, restricting them to the much smaller and less liquid B-share markets.
Observers said the MCIM fund had found a simple but effective way to avoid government regulations.
The fund has been launched in partnership with China Securities Corporation (CSC) - the mainland's second largest securities broker - and was listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange last week, after a private placing with institutional investors raised $36 million.
MCIM - which has $9.85 billion under management - said it would measure the performance of the fund against a reference portfolio of A shares, according to the fund's prospectus.
