By Selena Li
Hong Kong (Reuters) – Abrdn is in advanced talks with Citic Bank to launch an asset management joint venture in China, said two people with knowledge of the case, while British company seeks to strengthen its presence in the Second world economy.
Discussions are undergoing warming of British relations and contrasting with the decisions of several Western financial institutions in recent years, either to reduce jobs in China or to put aside their expansion plans on concerns about the health of the Chinese economy And the tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Abrdn, the second largest manager of independent assets in the United Kingdom, plans to have majority participation in the company with the others belonging to the Citic Bank unit, Cititic Wealth, said that people who refused to ‘Be identified as the talks are confidential.
Citic Wealth is the third largest wealth management unit belonging to banks with 2 yuan billions (275 billion dollars) of assets at the end of the year.
Abrdn refused to comment. Citic Bank, the main bank branch of the conglomerate group belonging to the Chinese central government, did not respond to a request for Reuters comments.
Abrdn and Citic Bank are in talks during the last two years of creating a company in mainland China or participation in Citic Wealth, sources said.
The discussions obtained a new momentum after the Renaissance of high-level economic and financial talks between China and the United Kingdom last month after being frozen for almost six years, they added.
(1 $ = 7.2724 Yuan Chinese)
(Reporting by Selena Li; edition by Sameet Chatterjee and Edwina Gibbs)
