China’s Sovereign Wealth Fund CIC Exploring PE Investment Opportunities in ASEAN
KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 (Bernama) -- China Investment Corporation (CIC) is actively exploring private equity (PE) investment opportunities in ASEAN as the PE activity in the region has been showing a good momentum since the second half of last year.
The sovereign wealth fund’s deputy chief investment officer Dr Qi Bin said the positive momentum is expected to continue into 2024 despite potential barriers and ongoing global risks.
“Among the key themes of ASEAN’s PE landscape in the future are healthcare, technology and artificial intelligence, green economy, aspirational consumer, business services, as well as supply chains,” he said during the session titled “The Intersection of China and ASEAN: In Search of Growth Verticals” at the KL20 Summit 2024 here Monday.
As for last year, he said, the top three sectors of PE investments were healthcare, telecommunication, and business services.
Founded in 2007, CIC is a sovereign wealth fund that manages part of China's foreign exchange reserves.
On Malaysia, he said the country is fast gaining traction as one of the favourite investment destinations attributed to its strategic location, access to the global market and liberalised equity ownership.
”Malaysia is particularly attractive due to its labour market strength, exports recovery, good policy supports as well as the improvement in connectivity with our service,” he noted.
Qi also pointed out that China is also playing a crucial role in Malaysia’s economic structure transformation with more investments seen to be coming from China to Malaysia such as Geely Auto and Longi.
“Further strengthening the bilateral trade and investment relations could support Malaysia’s strategies for economic transformation in terms of re-industrialisation and greening its economy,” he opined.
China has remained Malaysia's largest trading partner for the past 15 consecutive years, representing 17.1 per cent of Malaysia's total trade with the world, and as of February 2024, total trade volume between the two nations has reached an impressive US$15.52 billion (US$1= RM4.78).
The KL20 Summit 2024, spearheaded by the Ministry of Economy, is poised to reignite Malaysia's position as a vibrant hub for start-ups and venture capitalists, and lift Kuala Lumpur into the ranks of the top 20 global start-up hubs by 2030.
With a keen focus on fostering a dynamic start-up ecosystem, the summit aims to attract start-ups and investors from across the globe, creating a platform for collaboration, investment and growth.
-- BERNAMA
