BOC International to launch media PE fund

BOC International Holdings (BOCI), the Hong Kong-based investment banking unit of Bank of China, is looking to start a private equity fund focused on Chinese media, Reuters reported. According to sources, a fund-raising team headed by Li Tong, BOCI deputy chief executive, is in talks with several state-owned media groups that could be potential investors in the fund. The fund would focus on both traditional media such as television and newspapers as well as new media such as the internet. It would also look at media company consolidation. Last year Beijing started encouraging venture capital funds to invest in domestic media companies with a view to seeing these companies do stock market listings.