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BlackRock Says Has Already Created Wholly-Owned Foreign Enterprise In China; Corrects Media Report
Tom Burroughes
4 August 2014
, the world’s largest asset management firm, said last week a report inaccurately stated that it was in the process of creating a wholly-owned foreign enterprise, or WFOE, in Shanghai, as it had already created one as a result of a deal that was completed in October last year. These entities are seen as an important new business model for firms doing business in China. A spokesperson said the article that was incorrect had appeared on the Reuters Chinese news service.
On 7 October last year, the US-listed firm completed the acquisition of MGPA, an independently-managed private equity real estate investment advisory company in Asia-Pacific and Europe, creating a combined $23.5 billon global real estate investment platform (based on figures as at end June 2013).
When the original news service report came out, Z-Ben, a Chinese-based advisory firm working with financial services, said: “Z-Ben Advisors has identified two other major global asset managers establishing their own investment advisory WFOEs. In our view, these filings mark the beginnings of a sea change in global thinking about the optimal approach for targeting the Greater China market. We now predict that a further 20 investment advisory WFOEs will be launched by fast-thinking global asset managers by the end of 2015.”
The advisory firm compared the benefits and costs of WFOEs against representative offices and joint ventures.