**Times reporter An Zhongwen.
With the gradual increase in the resilience of China's economy and the attractiveness of the market, Middle Eastern capital, which has huge funds, is trying to lay out the Chinese market with the help of public offerings.
*The Times reporter learned that E Fund recently signed a memorandum of cooperation with Riyadh Capital, a leading asset management company in Saudi Arabia, to contribute to further promoting the connection and integration of the Sino-Saudi capital market. Analysts: The "local tyrants" from the Middle East are expected to gradually strengthen their investment in China's capital market in the future, and it is estimated that they may gradually bring about 20 billion yuan of funds per year to A-shares and H-shares.
Public offering giants are frequent.
Reach out to customers in the Middle East.
The huge capital in the Middle East is becoming an extremely important living water for China's public fundraising.
*The Times reporter learned from E Fund that under the witness of the Shanghai ** Exchange and the Saudi ** Exchange, the ** signed a memorandum of cooperation with Riyadh Capital, a leading asset management company in Saudi Arabia, to carry out exchanges and cooperation in the field of investment, and the memorandum of cooperation was signed at the 2024 Saudi Capital Market Forum held in Riyadh. It is reported that under the vision of global development, E Fund** and Riyadh Capital in Saudi Arabia will give full play to their respective local advantages and professional capabilities to explore cooperation in different markets and different asset classes.
E Fund**'s cooperation with Saudi capital institutions is another latest case of China-Saudi Arabia capital market cooperation in recent months. At the end of November last year, Asia's first Saudi Arabian ETF launched by CSOP, a subsidiary of CSOP**, was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and its asset size is the largest among similar products in the world. Wang Zhuofeng, managing director and head of Asia Pacific sales at CSOP, said that the response from clients to the Saudi ETF exceeded expectations and was quite enthusiastic, with investors from outside Asia even participating.
In December last year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission ** showed that Huatai Pineapple ** reported a product called "Huatai Berry CSOP Saudi Arabia ETF", which is currently in the state of receiving materials, and if it is officially approved in the future, it is expected to become the first Saudi Arabian market ETF listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the mainland market.
QFII in the Middle East
Layout of ** heavy stocks.
In addition to cooperating with Chinese companies in terms of products and customer channels, institutions from the Middle East have also begun to increase their interest in investing in Chinese assets.
In January this year, as a major stock, Rongsheng Petrochemical announced that the company signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" with Saudi Aramco, in which Rongsheng Petrochemical intends to acquire 50% of the equity of Saudi Aramco Jubail Refining and Chemical Company, and plans to expand on this basis. In addition, Saudi Aramco intends to acquire no more than 50% of the equity of CICC Petrochemical, and jointly expand CICC Petrochemical and develop the Rongsheng New Materials (Zhoushan) project. Previously, Saudi Aramco, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, acquired a 10% stake in Rongsheng Petrochemical for 24.6 billion yuan.
In December last year, Kingdee International, a Hong Kong-listed company, announced that the Qatar Investment Authority participated in the company's private placement with about 200 million US dollars. Almost at the same time, NIO, one of the largest heavy stocks in Hong Kong stocks, announced that it had signed a new round of share subscription agreement with Abu Dhabi investment institution CYLN Holdings. Under the agreement, CYVN Holdings, through its subsidiary, CYVN Investments, will make a strategic investment in NIO in cash form totaling approximately US$2.2 billion.
The research information disclosed by listed companies also shows that QFII institutions from the Middle East have also frequently investigated A-share listed companies with domestic public offerings recently, including Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Oman National General Reserves** and other Middle Eastern institutions frequently appear in the research list of a number of A-share listed companies such as Sunwoda, ZKTeco, and Samsung Medical. According to the research report of Industrial **, the proportion of China's ** assets of many Middle Eastern investment institutions is increasing rapidly, taking the equity asset investment of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as an example, the proportion of investment in Chinese assets of these institutions has increased from 45% rose to 22 in the first quarter of 20239%。
Enhance the ability of public offering and sweeping.
Obviously, China's top public offering has a rich product line and abundant investment and research talent resources, which will provide layout opportunities for capital from the Middle East.
Regarding the cooperation with Riyadh Capital, Liu Xiaoyan, chairman (co-chairman) and general manager of E Fund, said that the high-level opening up of China's capital market has provided opportunities for the international development of the company. With this cooperation with Riyadh Capital, E Fund will further expand its investment capabilities in Saudi Arabia and the wider region, continue to enrich its products and services, and build a bridge for Saudi investors to understand and invest in the Chinese market.
Abdullah Alshwer, CEO of Riyadh Capital in Saudi Arabia, believes that the company's cooperation with E Fund** will provide a wider range of channel coverage and a more comprehensive product layout in Asia, and expand richer investment opportunities for Saudi customers in the global market.
Although E Fund has not yet disclosed the specific form of cooperation with Saudi Riyadh Capital, industry insiders speculate that the development of overseas customers and large funds may be an important consideration for E Fund's cooperation with Saudi Arabia.
The research report released by CITIC ** also pointed out that the diplomatic breakthrough and monetary cooperation have brought about the imagination of "petroyuan", which is expected to gradually return to China's capital market, and it is estimated that it may gradually bring about 20 billion yuan of funds per year to A-shares and H-shares, and is expected to gradually expand in the future. At present, Middle Eastern funds tend to be relatively overweight traditional industries related to their own country, but with the advancement of the industrial strategic upgrading of major economies in the Middle East, it is expected to increase the layout of China's emerging advantageous industries in the future. For the secondary market and equity market, the short-term incremental logic is relatively weak, but we can pay attention to the structural changes in the field of capital preference in the Middle East.