Pimco Investment Management, the US firm’s Shanghai-based wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE), has received a qualified domestic limited partnership (QDLP) licence from the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC) this week, according to the association’s records.
Launched in 2013, the license allows foreign managers to raise money in China, within assigned quotas, to invest in offshore traditional and alternative investments, including overseas equity and bond funds, hedge funds and property.
“The approval of QDLP license marks another important milestone as we continue to pursue our buildout in China, which is strategically important for Pimco both from distribution and investment perspectives,” Kimberley Stafford, the firm’s Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific head, told FSA.
However, she declined to comment about Pimco’s business plans in China, such as which offshore strategies it plans to offer via its QDLP business, as well as whether or not it plans to obtain a private fund management (PFM) qualification from the AMAC.
A PFM licence enables foreign entities to develop and sell funds investing in onshore assets to domestic qualified investors, which include institutional and high net worth investors.
Pimco established its WFOE in 2018 and appointed its general manager in 2019, according to Stafford.
Its general manager is Zhou Lingling, who was previously the general manager at JP Morgan Asset Management’s WFOE in Shanghai, AMAC records show.
Other firms that received the QDLP qualification this year include Franklin Templeton and UBP.
As of April, there were 28 foreign managers holding the licence offering at least 40 QDLP funds in China, according to a recent Fleishman Hillard report.
Meanwhile, firms that are expected to launch QDLP products this year include Neuberger Berman, Oaktree Capital, Eastspring Investments, Allianz Global Investors and UBP.
