Belgium's largest fund manager KBC will launch a fund management venture in China next Tuesday with Chinese partner Goldstate Securities Co, according to sources involved in the deal.

The asset management arm of KBC has won Chinese regulatory approval to set up the venture and will take a 49 percent stake, the sources said.

KBC has agreed to pay 73.5 million yuan (US$9.35 million) for the stake. Goldstate is taking 51 percent.

Stefan Duchateau, chief executive of KBC Asset Management, was scheduled to attend a launch ceremony next Tuesday in Shanghai, where the fund venture would be based, the sources said.

"Negotiations between KBC and its Chinese partner lasted for nearly one year, and the major issue was not the price but who would get the controlling stake in the venture company," said one fund industry source close to Goldstate.

"Now it seems Goldstate has finally won control," the source said, adding that Goldstate was expected to have the right to appoint the chairman and chief executive of the venture.

More than 20 foreign firms have set up fund management joint ventures in China, where the industry is growing rapidly as the stock market booms and Chinese seek more lucrative places to park their money than bank deposits.

The major business focus of Brussels-based KBC is in Europe, but the company has been expanding into Asian emerging markets in the past few years.

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