Allianz Global Investors recently registered its first private fund management (PFM) product, according to the Asset Management Association of China (Amac).
The Allianz Multi-Asset Opportunity No. 1 Securities Investment Private Fund received approval earlier this month to be sold to China’s qualified (institutional and professional) investors.
This is the firm’s first onshore product since the Shanghai-based wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) registered as a PFM firm in March this year, according to records from the regulator.
A PFM licence allows foreign managers to offer funds investing in onshore assets to domestic qualified investors.
FSA contacted the firm for more information but officials declined to comment.
Allianz, along with Alliance Bernstein, obtained a PFM licence in March this year.
Onshore product popularity
As of 9 August this year, 21 foreign firms hold a PFM licence and collectively they have launched 46 products with RMB 5.4bn ($756m) in assets, according to a statement from the Amac.
In August, Hong Kong-based Value Partners registered its seventh PFM product, making the firm the asset manager with the largest number of PFM funds.
Amac records show that so far, Winton Investment Management in Shanghai, the WFOE of British quant fund manager Winton Capital, runs six PFM products.
Italian asset manager Azimut‘s new product, An Zhongxin Mix 2 Private Fund, also received approval from the Amac in August. The records show that its WFOE manages four PFM products.
Other firms are ramping business in mainland China. Also in August, Blackrock was approved to launch its third onshore product, the China A-share Opportunity Private Fund II. The first onshore product, the China A-Share Opportunity Fund Phase I, was launched last year, FSA previously reported.
The product launches are against the backdrop of a gradual relaxation of onshore fund rules, which are part of the overall effort to open China’s financial markets to foreign players.
