China Minsheng Investment Co Ltd (CMI, 中國民生投資), the largest Chinese private investment fund, said on Saturday it would invest ￡1 billion (US$1.54 billion) in a Chinese-led project to develop a new financial district in London.
The project is one of the largest Chinese investments in Britain in recent years and one of the most significant for Minsheng, which launched last August with registered capital of 50 billion yuan (US$76.99 billion).
The private equity firm said it would become the majority investor in the project, which was unveiled in 2013 by Chinese developer Advanced Business Park (ABP) and London Mayor Boris Johnson.
ABP chairman Xu Weiping (徐衛平) wants to develop a 14-hectare sliver of land at the historic Royal Albert Dock in east London into 400,000m2 of offices and shops.
Headed by Dong Wenbiao (董文標), the former chairman of state-owned Minsheng Bank Corp (民生銀行), Minsheng Investment claims no formal relationship with the bank or the Chinese government despite the name.
In January, the fund’s international advisory committee, a panel that includes former European prime ministers, Asian tycoons and a Nobel Prize winner, assembled at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse for the first time to discuss its globalization strategy.
The fund has said it would invest broadly in areas ranging from sustainable energy to real estate to business jet services.
The Chinese developers and London officials have envisioned attracting growing Asian companies to establish their European headquarters at their business park, which is close to London City airport.
“After the project is completed, it will be the international platform and foundation for Chinese companies and capital to enter the European market,” Minsheng president Li Huaizhen (李懷珍) said at a news conference in Shanghai on Saturday, hours after striking a deal with the British Ministry of Finance.
As China’s economy cools, its firms are investing in overseas projects at such a pace that China’s outbound investment is soon set to overtake inbound flows.
China’s outbound direct investment surged 14.1 percent to a new high of US$102.9 billion last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS