AIG venture to launch first fund

The Chinese joint venture asset management arm of AIG, the world's most valuable insurer, said it would begin selling its first fund next week, its maiden advance into the country's booming mutual funds sector.

The fund would be marketed to domestic investors for a month starting Monday and would target local stocks with sustained growth potential, the venture said in a prospectus published in domestic financial newspapers Thursday.

"The fund will benefit from AIG's investment expertise," the prospectus said without elaborating.

The venture did not say how much it expected to raise, but according to China's securities rules, the fund will have to rake in at least 200 million yuan (US$24.2 million).

AIG Global Investment Corp., an arm of American International Group (AIG), owns 33 percent of the 100 million yuan venture set up with China's Huatai Securities in November after regulatory approval in July.

Nanjing-based Huatai, a mid-sized brokerage, owns a third of the venture, while China¡¯s Suzhou New District Hi-Tech Industrial Co., Jiangsu Communications Holding Co. and Guohua Energy Investment Corp. also have stakes.

AIG follows foreign firms such as Dutch investment bank ING and France¡¯s Societe Generale that operate ventures to sell mutual funds to the Chinese, who have US$1.5 trillion in savings and are exploring alternatives to a rapidly crumbling cradle-to-grave welfare system.

Source: Shenzhen Daily-Agencies