JPMorgan reaches agreement to buy out Chinese partner’s stake in mutual fund unit
- JPMorgan to buy 49 per cent stake in China International Fund Management
- China’s mutual fund sector to hit US$9.4 trillion AUM by 2023 vs US$4.8 trillion in 2019: analyst
JPMorgan’s asset management arm said on Friday it had agreed to buy the 49 per cent stake it does not already own in its Chinese asset management joint venture for an undisclosed sum, as Beijing continues to open up its financial sector to foreigners.
The Wall Street firm claims the deal, if given the green light by regulators, will make it the first foreign firm to take full ownership of a Chinese fund house.
It comes after Beijing officially scrapped foreign ownership caps for asset management companies and securities firms effective April 1. Shanghai International Trust is a unit of the listed Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.
Other asset management firms, BlackRock and Neuberger Berman, reportedly applied to the regulator earlier this week to set up their wholly-owned mutual fund companies in the country.
Headquartered in Shanghai, CIFM has about 300 employees and 150 billion yuan of assets under management. Its chief executive, Eddy Wong, who was appointed last May after serving most recently as the head of J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Taiwan unit, will continue to lead the firm.