Following BlackRock and Fidelity, Neuberger Berman was also officially approved to set up a wholly foreign-owned public fund company in China. This marks the pace of China's financial industry opening up to the outside world, which is still making solid progress.
On September 24, according to the latest news on the website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Neuberger Berman Fund Management (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "NeubergerMan Fund") was approved by the regulatory authorities.
The registered office of NeubergerManific is Shanghai, and the company's business scope is public securities investment fund management, fund sales, private asset management and other businesses licensed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. The registered capital of the company is 150 million yuan, which is wholly owned by NeubergerMan Investment Consultants Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1939, Neuberger Berman is an independent, employee-owned private investment management firm that assists institutional investors, investment advisors and individual investors worldwide in managing equity, fixed income, quantitative investment and multi-asset, private equity, real estate and hedge fund portfolios. As of June 30, 2021, Neuberger Berman had more than $433 billion in assets under management. Neuberger Berman operates in 24 countries and has a diverse team of more than 2,300 experts.
Neuberger Berman entered the Chinese market as early as 2008, and in 2016, Luberman Investment Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was incorporated as a WFOE in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone,   In 2017, he was registered as a private fund manager with the Asset Management Association of China, and in 2018, he was supported by the Shanghai Financial Affairs Office to become a pilot institution for QDLP business and set up an overseas investment fund management subsidiary. On 1 April 2020, Neuberger Berman Group, as one of the first foreign asset management institutions, submitted an application for the establishment of a wholly foreign-owned fund management company and the simultaneous development of private asset management business, which was accepted by the CSRC on 18 September 2020.
The "Father of Mutual Funds" ushered in a new starting point for business in China
Neuberger, one of the company's founders, entered Wall Street on the eve of the Great Depression, in 1939 with Robert &nbsp. Berman co-founded Neuberger Berman and did not officially retire until 1999, when the company went public. Neuberger's 60 years at Neuberger Neuberger have been remarkable, and he is known as the father of the American mutual fund. In 2003, Lehman Brothers acquired Neuberger Berman for $2.63 billion. After lehman's bankruptcy, Neuberger Berman was delisted through an employee-initiated share acquisition program to become an independent company that continues to this day.
It is understood that the biggest difference between Neuberger Berman and other fund companies is that 25% of the year-end bonus of fund managers will be calculated as deferred annual compensation, of which up to 50% will be invested in funds managed by themselves or other fund managers. This system allows fund managers to have higher standards of performance and risk control when managing funds.
Liu Song, CEO of Luberman China and General Manager of Luberman Investment Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., said that becoming one of the first foreign public funds to do business in China is a milestone in NeubergerMan's business expansion in China, which is a new starting point for China's business, and the public fund can serve more Chinese investors, meet their diversified investment needs, and help global investors further explore the value of the Chinese market.
Liu Song previously pointed out at a public event that as the world's second largest economy, investment opportunities in the Chinese market have entered a stage that cannot be ignored by any global asset management company. Both from the perspective of market capacity and investment opportunities, the Chinese market has increasing potential to become an asset class independent of emerging markets.
In his view, the current correlation between the Chinese market and other mainstream mature markets is extremely low, which can effectively play a role in diversifying risks. In the current situation of extreme market uncertainty, the only certainty is to look for different investment targets to diversify risk, so global investors want to find a market with high relative returns. At present, interest rates in the US and European markets are extremely low, while Chinese government bonds still have yields of about 3%, which is very attractive to overseas investors.
Neuberger Berman said that China, as the focus of development and highly valued areas of Lubermani Group, has played a vital role in developing China's business through the expansion of private equity business, investment advisory services and QDLP pilot business in recent years, combined with Neuberger Berman's overseas investment capabilities, and has also built a bridge for exchanges between inside and outside the asset management field. With the deep integration of China's economy into the global market, the impact of the new crown epidemic since 2020 has made asset management institutions around the world more aware that only when the global economy remains open and interconnected, and can we achieve sustainable development and prosperity.
According to the asset management association information, Neuberger Berman's foreign private equity , Neuberger Berman Investment Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. has independently issued 6 private equity fund products, covering stocks, bonds and quantitative strategies. In addition, it also cooperates with China Resources Trust and Galaxy Capital in two investment advisory products.
Foreign public offerings have accelerated to break the ice
2021 is an ice-breaking year for the acceleration of foreign public offering:
On June 18, blackrock fund, the first wholly foreign-owned public offering in China, held an opening ceremony.
On August 6, Fidelity Fund Management (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Fidelity Fund) was approved for establishment.
In September, BlackRock Fund's first public fund product, BlackRock China New Horizons Hybrid Securities Investment Fund, was confirmed by the CSRC for fund filing procedures and was officially established on September 7, with an initial offering size of about 6.681 billion yuan and a total effective subscription of 111,000 households.
On 22 September, the Neuberger Berman Fund was approved for establishment.
According to the website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, a number of foreign-funded institutions such as Fanda, Lianbo and Schroder are queuing up to apply for public fund licenses. According to the Chinese reporter of the securities company, foreign-funded institutions such as ValueRy are also actively preparing and plan to apply in the future.
In addition to directly applying for a public fund license, there are also foreign investors wholly-owned by increasing the shareholding ratio of the joint venture company, such as the Shanghai Investment Morgan Fund hopes to become the first domestic joint venture company to be a public fund with a wholly foreign ownership, and its foreign shareholder is Morgan Asset Management (an asset management company under JPMorgan Chase).
According to the information released by the Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange on August 24, 2020, Shanghai International Trust Co., Ltd. intends to transfer its 49% equity interest in Shanghai Investment Morgan Fund Management Co., Ltd. at a transfer price of 7 billion yuan. If the transaction is successfully completed, Shanghai Investment Morgan will be wholly owned by Morgan Asset Management and become a wholly foreign-owned public fund management company, and the transaction is still subject to regulatory approval, and the industry is expected to land in the near future.