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Blackstone Group LP is in talks with the Shanghai city government to set up a wholly owned China subsidiary as part of its preparations to launch a local-currency private equity fund, sources said on Thursday.
The move came as the Shanghai government announced last week that Shanghai would soon allow international private equity firms to incorporate locally in China's financial hub so that they could launch yuan-denominated funds to invest in Chinese companies.
The Shanghai Financial Service Office, directly led by the city government, has expressed strong support to senior executives of Blackstone, hoping the U.S. private equity group could be the first foreign firm to make such a move, said government and financial sources close to the situation.
Fu Shan, China representative for Blackstone, which already has a representative office in Beijing, declined to comment. The sources declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Blackstone would not slow its investments in China despite the global financial crisis, as high economic growth and low valuations promised good returns, its Greater China Chairman Anthony Leung, former Hong Kong Financial Secretary, said in November.
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