SHANGHAI : U.S. asset manager Neuberger Berman has set up its first onshore China retail fund, after raising 4 billion yuan ($581.2 million) in a bond-focused product.
The maiden fund launch by Neuberger Berman’s Chinese unit is being keenly watched as a barometer of local investor interest in global fund brands as a banking crisis in the U.S. and Europe dampens risk appetite.
Fidelity International will launch its first onshore mutual fund in China next month.
“The successful launch demonstrates that our investors are looking for differentiated investment solutions,” Alan Wang, manager of Personal Finance at Bank of China – Neuberger Berman’s lead distribution partner in China – said in a statement.
Neuberger Berman Fund Management (China) Ltd, the second wholly foreign-owned mutual fund company in China, said it established the One Year Fixed Income Securities Investment Fund after three weeks of fundraising.
The fund, co-managed by Peter Ru and Ping Zhou, invests at least 80 per cent of assets in Chinese government bonds, policy bank bonds and corporate bonds.
The launch is the largest in the “mixed fixed-income” category so far this year, followed by a 3.3 billion yuan fundraising by Harvest Fund Management.
BlackRock was the first global asset manager to operate a wholly-owned mutual fund business in China. Neuberger Berman’s China unit was awarded a licence late last year in the country’s $3.7 trillion retail fund industry.
($1 = 6.8824 Chinese yuan renminbi)
