CITIC $1.3b fund to target SOEs

CITIC Private Equity Funds Management Co said two-thirds of the US$1.32 billion it has raised in local currency will focus on state-owned enterprise turn arounds, the Wall Street Journal reported. The fund will have special access to SOE’s because of its links to state-owned CITIC and CITIC securities. "We’re known by local governments and portfolio companies as ‘insiders,’" Wu Yibing, president of CITIC Group’s private equity unit. The fund’s largest investors include China’s pension fund, the National Council for Social Security Fund. A number of global PE funds are looking to set up renminbi funds in conjunction with local partners, which would allow them to invest in a wider array of sectors, some of which are off limits to foreign investors.