Central bank approves investor program in 2 cities

The central bank has given approval for two cities to launch the qualified domestic individual investor program, which is now awaiting final approval from the State Council, said an official from the Guangzhou branch of People's Bank of China, Shanghai Securities News reported.

The so-called QDII2 program will be launched in Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, according to Wang Jingcheng, president of the central bank's Guangzhou branch. Under the program, qualified Chinese individual investors can directly inject money into foreign stock markets.

Securities regulator eyes pension firms' investments

The top securities regulator is focusing on expanding asset management companies' pension fund investments. The investment operators will be large, professional asset management institutions, Xu Hao, deputy chief of the Fund Management Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said on Monday. Expanding pension fund investments offers an opportunity to develop the asset management industry, with the ultimate goal of ensuring asset security, Xu said.

Cushman & Wakefield to boost China position

Cushman & Wakefield, the world's largest privately held commercial real estate services firm, announced on Tuesday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Singapore-based project management specialist company Project Solution Group (PSG), a deal that would raise the company's presence in the China market. The latest acquisition is aligned with the firm's global strategy to strengthen its operations in Asia Pacific and when completed, will position Cushman & Wakefield as a market leader in project management services, according to the company's statement.

Commerce spokesman rejects US accusations

Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, on Tuesday called US accusations of a ban on imported pork "groundless" and said that the Chinese market is open to US pork. The US is the largest source of pork imports for China, and the volume of imports has been on the rise over the years. Imports of US pork increased from 80,000 metric tons in 2009 to 590,000 metric tons in 2012. During the first four months of this year, the figure has reached 120,000 metric tons.

"What is banned in China is clenbuterol, and it is strictly required that all pork imported from other countries should not contain this chemical," Shen said.

Insurers' premium income hits $125b in first 5 months

The combined premium income of China's insurers in the first five months of 2013 reached 774.4 billion yuan ($126 billion), a 9.4 percent year-on-year increase, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission. Combined asset insurance premium income was 265.7 billion yuan, up 16.84 percent. Income from life insurance premiums reached 508.7 billion yuan, up 5.9 percent. The combined premium income of insurers in May was 127.7 billion yuan, a 10.4 percent year-on-year increase.

Shenhua Group Corp overhauls railway assets

Shenhua Group Corp Ltd, one of the country's largest coal companies, is rationalizing more than half of its railway assets to increase efficiency and lower costs, China Business News reported on Tuesday. The overhaul covers more than 800 kilometers of track and is scheduled to be completed by the end of July. Since these railways are located near clusters of coal mines in northern China, the move could maximize efficiency and lower costs, according to an employee with a railway subsidiary of Shenhua.

Wangfujing Department Stores buying stake in PCD

Beijing Wangfujing International Commercial Development Co announced on Monday its purchase of nearly 40 percent of high-end counterpart PCD Stores Group Ltd, according to the China Securities Journal. The transaction is to be completed by Friday. Wangfujing signed a stock transfer agreement on Jan 24 with PCD's two major stakeholders, Bluestone Global Holdings Ltd and Portico Global Ltd, through a wholly owned subsidiary in the Cayman Islands.

The agreement stated that Wangfujing would purchase 39.53 percent of PCD equity for nearly HK$2 billion ($257 million).

China Daily

(China Daily USA 06/26/2013 page14)