Man Investment Management (Shanghai), the wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) of London-based hedge fund manager Man Group, has launched its first onshore private fund in China, focusing on listed futures contracts.
The move comes just over three months after it secured private fund manager (PFM) qualification on September 8 from the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC). The PFM status allows WFOEs of foreign managers to operate onshore private securities fund businesses.
AMAC, the self-regulatory industry body, is speeding up PFM approvals in order to support the Chinese government’s policy to open up its onshore capital market. It granted PFM status to several foreign asset managers in 2017, including Hong Kong’s Value Partners Group Limited and Singapore’s Fullerton Fund Management.
UBS Asset Management, part of Switzerland’s UBS Group AG, which also secured a PFM licence this year, was the first to launch an onshore equity fund in China. The fund, which came to market last month, focuses on institutional and high net worth individuals, and invests in blue chip stocks in the A-share market.
By contrast, the Man Group fund, which has a quantitative systematic trend strategy, “seeks to identify and capture market trends across diverse liquid onshore markets, focusing initially on listed futures including agricultural commodities, industrial commodities, bonds, metals, energy and stock indices”, the company says in a December 11 statement.
The fund is managed by Man AHL, the quantitative investment arm of Man Group. The fund’s custodian is Beijing-based Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Shanghai-based Guotai Junan Securities is its brokerage service provider.
“I am delighted that we are bringing our first onshore quantitative strategy to the market, which taps into the strength of our research and investment capabilities,” says Tim Wong, chairman of Man Group Asia. “We aim to deliver other innovative solutions to serve our clients’ investment needs in future.”
A Man Group spokeswoman declined to answer questions from Asia Asset Management on the fundraising target and the potential clients, citing “compliance restrictions”.
Man Group opened its China office in 2012 and received Qualified Domestic Limited Partnership status from the China Securities Regulatory Commission the following year, allowing it to raise funds from qualified Chinese investors for investments overseas. It set up the WFOE in 2016.
Man Group had US$103.5 billion in total AUM as of September 30.
