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China - 中国国际贸易促进委员会

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Africa<br />

INVESTMENT<br />

Sino-African fund set to swell in 5 years<br />

The second phase of raising capital will be concluded<br />

at the end of 2011. The <strong>China</strong>-Africa Development (CAD)<br />

fund, the country’s biggest equity fund targeting African<br />

investments, is set to expand to $5 billion in the coming five<br />

years, said Chi Jianxin, president of the fund.<br />

“We expect to finish raising the fund’s second phase of<br />

$2 billion by the end of this year and will kick off the third<br />

phase afterwards,” Chi said in an exclusive interview with<br />

<strong>China</strong> Daily.<br />

Based on current operations, the size of the fund may<br />

eventually exceed $5 billion, even though several conditions,<br />

such as an efficient exit channel, are required, he said.<br />

The CAD fund was set up in 2007 as <strong>China</strong>'s major investment<br />

vehicle in Africa, after President Hu Jintao pledged<br />

to establish it at the Beijing Summit on <strong>China</strong>-Africa Cooperation<br />

in 2006.<br />

An initial sum of $1 billion was provided by <strong>China</strong> Development<br />

Bank (CDB), and the fund was planned to expand<br />

to $5 billion finally, although no specific timetable had been<br />

drawn up.<br />

CDB will also help in the second phase fundraising,<br />

said Chi, who was the director of CDB’s Investment Banking<br />

Department before his appointment as president of the fund<br />

upon its foundation.<br />

“We expect more capital from other institutions will<br />

join in during the third round of capital raising,” he said.<br />

So far, the fund has decided to invest $1.3 billion, including<br />

$600 million that has already been invested, in more<br />

than 40 projects covering more than 20 countries on the African<br />

continent.<br />

“We’re very cautious on our investments when making<br />

decisions,” Chi said. The fund's investment focuses mainly<br />

on the processing industry, including construction materials,<br />

automobiles, and household electrical appliances, in addition<br />

to agriculture, mining, and infrastructure areas.<br />

All the projects will facilitate more than $5 billion additional<br />

capital investment to the continent, and will provide<br />

more than 100,000 jobs, Chi said.<br />

The fund, for instance, is in talks with Chery Automobile<br />

Co to invest in an automotive assembly plant project in<br />

Africa.<br />

Buoyed by Chinese investors’ feverish enthusiasm in<br />

Africa, <strong>China</strong>’s investment in Africa surpassed $1 billion<br />

in 2010 from mere tens of millions of US dollars in 2000.<br />

Meanwhile, bilateral trade in 2010 rose to $124 billion, more<br />

than 11 times higher than in 2000, according to Xinhua<br />

News Agency reports.<br />

The central government is urging that equal importance<br />

be given to attracting foreign investment and encouraging<br />

domestic investors to go abroad during the 12th Five-Year<br />

Plan period (2011-2015), the first time the country has emphasized<br />

overseas investment and will spur even more domestic<br />

investment to go abroad, analysts said.<br />

“We plan to invest more in ‘mega projects’ within the<br />

next five years, such as transportation and harbor construction,”<br />

Chi said. “As a financial investor, we're also actively<br />

seeking partnerships with domestic strategic investors for big<br />

projects.”<br />

In addition, Chi said that the fund has started adopting<br />

a mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) strategy to curtail the<br />

investment period.<br />

“We will seek some M&A opportunities in the future<br />

to offset the longer cycle of new projects starting from zero,”<br />

Chi said.<br />

So far, the fund has set up offices in South Africa, the<br />

continent’s biggest economy, Ethiopia, which has attracted a<br />

number of projects, and Zambia. The fund is also planning to<br />

set up additional offices in countries in western and northern<br />

Africa. (<strong>China</strong> Daily)<br />

<strong>China</strong>-SADC investment forum<br />

held in South Africa<br />

<strong>China</strong>, South Africa’s leading trade partner which has<br />

been in the past focusing its investment interests in the country’s<br />

mining and manufacturing sectors will soon “diversify”<br />

to other economic sectors and industries promoting job creation<br />

in South Africa, the Chinese investment body revealed<br />

on May 19.<br />

“South Africa is increasingly becoming <strong>China</strong>’s investment<br />

focus and <strong>China</strong> wants to diversify its investments in<br />

South Africa to other sectors of the economy such as information<br />

technology, biotechnology, human resources and<br />

other industry services,” <strong>China</strong> Industrial Overseas Development<br />

and Planning (CIODP) Vice President and Secretary<br />

General Fan Chunyong said at the <strong>China</strong> and SADC Investment<br />

Conference held at Sinosteel Plaza in Johannesburg.<br />

“These investments (will) help to create more job opportunities<br />

and improve work skills. Investment towards improving<br />

infrastructure will also promote (and) enable economic<br />

development in SADC,” Chunyong told the conference attended<br />

by South Africa senior government officials.<br />

The SADC is acronym for the Southern African Development<br />

Community, a regional body that comprises countries<br />

in Southern Africa only.<br />

The conference attended by several Chinese business<br />

leaders and investors was organized by the <strong>China</strong> Industrial<br />

Overseas Development and Planning Association, the South<br />

African Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the<br />

SADC secretary and the AfrAsia Bank. It aims to promote<br />

more trade and investments opportunities between <strong>China</strong><br />

and the SADC, taking advantage of South Africa’s fast<br />

growing economy and membership to international bodies<br />

such as BRICS.<br />

BRICS is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, <strong>China</strong><br />

and South Africa, a grouping that provides its members with<br />

opportunities to initiate economic arrangements.<br />

The conference’s theme was “Capturing the SADC Opportunities”<br />

as under BRICS arrangement South Africa is<br />

expected to push for the SADC to integrate trade and policies<br />

with the other members. (Xinhuanet)<br />

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