UBS buys Shenzhen fund firm stake

Europe's largest bank, Swiss-based UBS, announced plans to buy a 49% stake in Shenzhen-based China Dragon Fund Management, taking advantage of an opening up of the fund management industry to foreign investment and foreign competition. The bank did not give financial details of the deal. Dragon is wholly owned by State Development Investment, China's largest investment holding company. In December, China raised the proportion of fund ventures that foreign companies can own, from 33% to 49%, in line with pledges made when it joined the WTO. Companies that have already set up und ventures include HSBC Holdings, JP Morgan Chase, ABN AMRO and Allianz. The new company will be called SDIC Hongtai Trust & Investment, UBS said. The bank has the biggest quota in China's Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII), allowing it to invest as much as US$800m in RMB-denominated shares and bonds.