APS Asset Management’s wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) in Shanghai will be launching its fourth private fund management (PFM) strategy in the mainland.
The Foreign Trade Trust – APS Xincheng Securities Investment Collective Capital Trust Plan received regulatory approval yesterday from the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC).
This will be the second strategy that the firm is launching with China Foreign Economy and Trade Trust Company (FOTIC), in which APS AM will act in an advisory capacity, the records show.
Beijing-headquartered FOTIC is an asset and wealth management firm wholly-owned by Sinochem Group, according to the firm’s website. In 2011, FOTIC launched Wuxing Wealth, which is the firm’s wealth management brand that provides asset allocation services for HNWIs in China.
In total, APS AM manages eight PFM products in the mainland, including four that received AMAC’s approval last year.
Like APS AM, Value Partners also partnered with FOTIC to launch a PFM product in January this year.
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.
FSA sought more information from both firms, but they did not reply in time for publication.
Last year, the Singaporean firm decided to liquidate its Asia-focused funds and only manage China-related strategies.
“We decided after much deliberation and discussion that going forward, we would focus solely on China,” the firm said in a statement at the time.
In total, there are around 33 foreign asset managers holding PFM licences managing at least 110 products in China, according to data from AMAC.
