The China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the transaction last week, according to an online statement (in Chinese).
The reduction in shares means that UBI Banca is no longer the largest shareholder of the fund house. Zhong Ou’s management as a whole now owns roughly a 32% stake.
UBI Banca had been a shareholder since Zhong Ou was set up in 2006, with a 35% ownership stake. The remainder was held by Beijing-based Guodu Securities and two private investment companies.
Zhong Ou has about RMB 65.8bn ($9.8bn) of mutual fund assets under management (excluding money market funds), ranking 19th among peers in terms of AUM as of the first quarter of 2017, according to data from the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC).
The firm claims that in 2014 it became the first fund house in China that allowed members of the management team to hold an ownership stake. The chairman Dou Yuming, for instance, owns a 5% stake.
The CSRC allowed individuals to become shareholders of mutual fund firms starting in June 2013, but the practice is not common in the mainland.
