Bohai Investment Fund Goes After Banking

Filed in archive Private Equity on November 24, 2007

After making its debut investment earlier this month in a basic industrial sector of the Chinese economy, China's first home grown private equity fund is continuing to take a different path than foreign PE funds in China - by investing in banking.


The Bohai Fund announced last week that it is buying a ten percent stake in Chengdu City Commercial Bank Co. for around billion yuan (about US$135 million), according to Wall Street Journal writer Rick Carew.

The deal was formally announced on Thursday, November 23, according to the China Economic Review. This was the second investment in Chengdu City Bank in the last few months. While foreign PE funds have avoided banking, Malaysian businessman Quek Leng Chan invested almost two billion yuan in the bank in October, obtaining just under a 20% stake according to ChinaRealNews. Quek invested the money through Hong Leong Bank Bhd., whicc he owns.