Rothschild fund to test Chinese appetite for global stake building!
LONDON, England - April 1, 2011 - Lord Rothschild launched a $750 million USD private equity fund for Chinese investors yesterday in a move that marks a milestone in Beijing's accelerating plans to internationalise the yuan.
The fund is the first to allow Chinese companies to dip their toes into international stake building via private equity.
It is designed to tap an investment appetite that is increasingly looking outside China to give companies a technical or marketing edge back in the cutthroat domestic market.
Against a background of recent economic reforms, the groundbreaking fund was granted permission to launch after only a few months of negotiations with the Chinese authorities. That was a signal not only of their eagerness to increase the choice of sophisticated yuan-denominated financial products in the market, but also the disproportionate strength of the Rothschild brand in China.
Its reputation, according to rival banking figures, may have as much to do with the famous wine that bears the Rothschild family name as the company's track record. As the Chinese economy has boomed, Chateau Mouton Rothschild has emerged as the undisputed social currency of big deal making.
In a business culture that rewards lavish displays of opulence - and often depends heavily on treating a senior Communist Party official with visible largesse - the emergence of a decent vintage of Mouton Rothschild can prove the decisive stroke.
The brand still works wonders, say wine merchants, even though a good percentage of what sells for $2000 USD a bottle in China is thought to comprise fakes.
The fund is likely to concentrate its acquisitive attentions on a range of sectors, including green technology, luxury goods and natural resources. "This is the first time that the Chinese government has allowed something like this to happen, and there is an extent to which they are testing the temperature of the bath water," Lord Rothschild told The Times.
