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Big bosses from Singapore’s GIC, HSBC, Ares and Blackstone have met with China’s wealth-fund managers as markets go from red-hot to losers

  • Top guns from BNP Paribas, Allianz and JCDecaux also called on their counterparts at China Investment Corp this year as the stakes get higher in a wobbly economy
  • Chinese assets are hurting global investors as state-led crackdown and geopolitical factors undermine confidence, fundamental analysis

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The New Poly Plaza in Beijing, which houses the CIC headquarters on the 8th floor. Photo: Wikipedia
Yulu Ao
Chinese stocks have gone from red-hot to also-ran in the space of three months. Worries about the nation’s sputtering economy and frayed foreign relations continue to bother fund managers, who are also seeking to put the “investability” issue behind them.

In that period, at least nine global corporate bosses – from Singapore’s wealth fund GIC Private to Goldman Sachs and US private equity giant Blackstone – have landed in Beijing for meetings with top executives at China Investment Corp (CIC), the nation’s sovereign wealth fund.

CIC also hosted top bosses from Ares Management, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Allianz SE and JCDecaux as funds began abandoning the Chinese market for India and Japan. The wealth fund, which managed about US$1.4 trillion of the nation’s foreign-exchange reserves at the end of 2021, owns major stakes in top banks. It engages external fund managers to help invest in global markets.

CIC President Ju Weimin (left) and Chairman Peng Chun hosted top executives from global funds and banks over the past three months to exchange views on economy and markets. Photo: Handout
CIC President Ju Weimin (left) and Chairman Peng Chun hosted top executives from global funds and banks over the past three months to exchange views on economy and markets. Photo: Handout

In those meetings, CIC Chairman Peng Chun and President Ju Weimin discussed local and global economic outlooks and capital-market landscapes with their visitors, all of them with a growing investment footprint in China and the region. They also shared information and pledged deeper cooperation on investment opportunities, CIC said.

“We regularly meet with representatives from major funds to exchange views,” the sovereign fund said in an email reply to the Post on Monday. “Specific details regarding the interactions are confidential. These interactions allow us to gain valuable insights and contribute to the continuous growth of our business.”

Such insight is invaluable for money managers who are trying to decipher the thinking behind China’s economic or political goals. At stake is US$2.3 trillion worth of Chinese stocks in MSCI China Index, a major benchmark tracked by global funds. The gauge has fallen 6 per cent this year, on top of a 22 per cent slump in 2022 and 2021.

“Elevated tensions between the US and China are raising lots of questions,” economists Robin Brooks and Jonathan Fortun at Washington-based Institute of International Finance said in a report on June 22. Apart from de-globalisation concerns, “there is also focus on de-risking as foreign investors cut exposure”.

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