CHINA Everbright Holdings is an investment bank with a difference. Now run by seasoned, former officials of the People's Bank of China, Everbright's modus operandi is balancing profits with the need to raise funds for mainland industrial enterprises operating overseas.
Established in 1983, the group has the distinction of being the first mainland firm in Hong Kong to be set up by China's State Council. It was founded by Wang Guangying, nicknamed the 'red capitalist' for his keen - or, depending on your point of view, too keen - interest in market economics.
Mr Wang's brother-in-law was the late Chinese President Liu Shaoqi, but that did not stop him being replaced in 1990 after the bank made huge losses in the preceding decade.
Caught up in the free-wheeling spirit of the mid-1980s, the firm suffered equity and trading losses when Hong Kong was suddenly thrust into the political limelight during the Sino-British talks.
However, under Mr Wang's successor, Qiu Qing, the former vice-governor of the People's Bank of China, the bank late last year recorded its first period of real expansion in at least four years.
Her success follows a period of soul-searching by the bank. Since 1990, it has kept an extremely low profile, only emerging in May last year to buy its first locally listed company, Newfoundland International. The branch was renamed China Everbright International and is geared towards investment banking and industrial projects.