Morgan Stanley to Launch JV in China

Rumors are floating around that investment-giant Morgan Stanley will enter into its first fund venture in China as early as next month, Reuters reports.

This news comes right on the heals of last week’s announcement that Fidelity International is also looking harness Asia’s enormous potential by entering into its own joint ventures in China. The only difference is that Fidelity does not plan to enter the market until next year at the earliest.

The Morgan Stanley deal is reportedly for a 40% stake in Jutian Fund Management Co., and is estimated to cost 40 million yuan, or roughly $5.77 million. Jutian Fund controls and manages three different mutual funds, one money market and two equities funds, and has around 500 million yuan in total assets.

Morgan Stanley is taking baby steps initially and that happens to be part of Jutian’s appeal for the investment company. “Because it’s small, it’s easy for Morgan Stanley to control,” a second source indicated.

The only thing standing in the way of the pending deal is approval from China’s Ministry of Commerce, as Chinese securities regulators are said to have already approved the deal earlier this month. Assuming the deal goes through, Morgan Stanley would be the largest shareholder of Jutian and would have management control.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.

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