Shanghai Ace backs Blackstone RMB fund

The Shanghai-listed company will commit around $44m to Blackstone’s maiden RMB-denominated fund, which aims to raise roughly $735m.

Shanghai Ace, a coal and clean energy resources company in China, has agreed to invest RMB300 million (€36.2 million; $44.1 million) in the Blackstone Zhonghua Development Investment Fund, the company said in a disclosure on the Shanghai Composite Index.

Blackstone Zhonghua Development Investment Fund is The Blackstone Group’s maiden fund denominated in the local Chinese currency. The fund is managed by Blackstone’s Chinese subsidiary, the Blackstone (China) Equity Investment Management Company, which was set up in November last year. 

Blackstone (China) Equity Investment Management Company was set up under a pilot policy introduced in June, which allows foreign private equity and venture capital firms in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area to established wholly-owned Chinese entities. 

Since last year, a number of foreign private equity firms have registered local entities in China to raise and manage funds denominated in RMB. However, thus far, it has been the local firms raising private equity funds that have grabbed much of the headlines. 

Only earlier this week, it was reported that the Shanghai Financial Industry Investment Fund (SFIIF) has raised RMB11 billion in its first round of fundraising, making it the largest RMB-denominated private equity fund raised to date. That fund is reportedly targeting commitments of RMB20 billion.

Earlier in January, CITIC Private Equity Funds Management, the private equity arm of CITIC Securities, closed the CITIC Mianyang Private Equity Fund on RMB9 billion, making it the largest yuan-denominated fund raised until then.