Apart from listing on stock markets and securing bank loans, companies in the Bohai Rim region will soon have another capital channel to back their development, a senior official said yesterday.

 

Bohai Industrial Investment Fund, the first fund to be launched by mainland enterprises that invests directly in other companies, may begin operation next month, Tianjin Mayor Dai Xianglong told reporters on the sidelines of a Tianjin-Hong Kong Week meeting in Hong Kong yesterday.

 

"The composition of the fund's senior management has been settled. It's ready for operation in June," the mayor said. Dai was China's central bank governor prior to taking up his current job.

 

Creation of the fund could lead to the establishment of similar organizations on the mainland, boding well for companies short of capital, analysts said.

 

The Bohai Industrial Investment Fund, approved by the State Council earlier this year, will be based in North China's Tianjin and invest its 20 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) in various sectors, Dai said.

 

Jointly launched by six mainland firms, including the National Social Security Fund, China Life Insurance and China Post, the fund has raised between 5 billion yuan (US$625 million) and 6 billion yuan (US$750 million) for its first phase investment program.

 

The fund will be the third industrial investment fund following the setting up of two Sino-foreign ventures, Dai said.

 

The fund marks the start of a new capital-raising channel for the mainland's cash-starved companies, small- and medium-sized ones in particular.

 

They have long complained about a lack of access to capital to fund growth.

 

"Bank lending and public offerings used to be the only way they could raise capital," said Andes Cheng, an analyst with Hong Kong-based South China Research Ltd. "There should be more."

 

Dai said more industrial investment funds would be launched in other parts of the mainland if Bohai's example was a success.

 

"Tianjin is a pioneer in this regard. Its experience will be used by other areas," he said.

 

At the same event, Dai said Bohai Bank, opened in February in Tianjin to back the region's development, would aim for cross-sector cooperation to fend off foreign competition.

 

(China Daily May 10, 2006)