A Russia-China high technology investment fund announced

My Sept. 12, 2014 posting mentioned a proposed joint China-Russia nanotechnology investment fund which has now been realized (and changed somewhat). From a Jan. 19, 2016 news item on sputniknews.com,

Russia’s Rusnano nanotechnology company has established a $500-million joint investment fund with the Chinese Zhongrong International Trust, Rusnano CEO Anatoly Chubais said Tuesday.

The agreement between the companies was signed by Chubais and Zhongrong International Trust Chairman Fang Tao, the statement by Rusnano confirmed.

“Zhongrong is one of the largest financial institutes in the Asia-Pacific region that specializes in private equity and financing of large-scale innovative projects… Our partnership is aimed at the creation of new competitive products with the prospect of their launch both in Russia and China, as well as worldwide,” Chubais said, as quoted by Rusnano’s press center.

A Jan. 19, 2016 RUSNANO press release, which originated the news item, provides more details abut the deal and about RUSNANO (Note: A link has been removed),

At the first stage, the RUSNANO Zhongrong United Investment Fund will have $500 mln of capital under management. The Partners of the Fund, RUSNANO Group and Zhongrong Trust International Co., LTD. (Zhongrong), will provide their equity investments in equal portions and establish a joint management company.

The Fund’s investment focus will be concentrated on projects in the growth stage aimed at application, development, and transfer of high technologies (related to electric power industry (including RES), oil and gas industry, as well as microelectronics and biotechnologies) to Russia. It is envisaged that investments into the projects and project companies will be effected on the territory of Russia (not less than 70 %), China, and other countries.

RUSNANO was founded as an open joint stock company in March 2011, through reorganization of state corporation Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies. RUSNANO is instrumental in realizing government policies for nanoindustry growth, investing in financially effective high-technology projects that guarantee the development of new manufacturing within the Russian Federation. The company invests in nanotechnology companies directly and through investment funds. Its primary investment focus is in electronics, optoelectronics and telecommunications, healthcare and biotechnology, metallurgy and metalwork, energy, mechanical engineering and instrument making, construction and industrial materials, and chemicals and petrochemicals. The Government of the Russian Federation owns 100 percent of the shares in RUSNANO.

Work to establish nanotechnology infrastructure and carry out educational programs is fulfilled by RUSNANO’s Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs, which was also established during the reorganization of the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies.

Management of the investment assets of RUSNANO are carried out by a limited liability company established in December 2013, RUSNANO Asset Management. Anatoly Chubais is chairman of its Executive Board.

Presumably, the amount is in US dollars (USD). In 2014 when I first stumbled across an English language media announcement about this fund, China was considering ways to make its own currency (Renmibis) an international standard (mentioned in the Sept. 12, 2014 posting). Of course, China’s recent stock market collapse (a Jan. 18, 2016 CNN news article by Andrew Stevens with
Jessie Jiang and Shen Lu provides more details and insight into the collapse) must have been a setback for those currency plans but it’s interesting to see China has pushed ahead with this investment fund.

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