JOINING the rush of China fund launches, a major arm of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) is to form a direct investment fund aiming to raise up to US$200 million to cash in on an expanding telecommunications industry.
The closed-ended fund, to be launched in two phases, will invest in the 28 subsidiaries of China National Posts and Telecommunications Industry Corp (PTIC), the MPT's most important equipment manufacturing and installation arm.
PTIC counts among its members Chengdu Cable, one of the second batch of Chinese enterprises to list abroad, and Shanghai Posts and Telecommunications Equipment, an important equipment supplier in Shanghai.
A management company for the telecom fund has been set up and will be owned two-thirds by Carr Indosuez Asia and one-third by PTIC, according to David Wong, the investment bank's director for China business development.
The two-phase launch will take the form of share placement, with the shares being placed to foreign investors only.
''The first placement will raise $100 million and will take place six months from the signing of the agreement. The second placing will occur one year [after] completion of the first,'' Mr Wong said.
