China Minsheng Investment 'will help companies go global'

China Minsheng Investment Co Ltd, the country's first national-level private investment firm, announced on Friday it will establish a global advisory council to help domestic enterprises go abroad.

"China's economy has a close relationship with the rest of the world and also plays an important global role, so we will fully utilize our domestic and foreign resources to help Chinese companies go abroad," said Chairman Dong Wenbiao.

He made the comments during a launch ceremony in Beijing for the advisory arm.

Foreign advisory council members include former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin and Chairman Dhanin Chearavanont of Thailand-based Charoen Pokphand Group Co Ltd.

Also on the council are Roland Berger, honorary chairman and founder of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants GmbH, Stephen Roach, former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, and Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations.

There are several Chinese experts, including Chen Zhiwu, a professor of finance at Yale University and Li Daokui, an economics professor at Tsinghua University.

Dong said CMI will operate in Hong Kong, Singapore and London.

It will seek to cooperate with overseas financial institutions in investment and financing, he said.

"The consensus is that China's economy will undergo an investment-led transformation," said Prodi.

"The industries of China will further integrate with those of Europe because the two parties are important trading partners and the diversity of Europe can meet the investment demand of China."

Prodi said that Europe is open to Chinese companies' investment and the fundamentals of the European economy are good.

"Chinese companies should understand the cultures and management styles of different countries and pay attention to their political issues," said Prodi.

Berger said that the advisory council is a positive development, and it will help Chinese private-sector enterprises to go abroad.

"The global market is large and many Chinese companies may be small, compared with their competitors, so it is better for them to join forces," said Berger.

Approved by the State Council in April last year, CMI has registered capital of 50 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), contributed by 59 large private-sector Chinese companies from different industries.

The 59 shareholders' combined assets reach nearly 1 trillion yuan .

CMI has already invested in the solar photovoltaic, aviation and real estate industries, and it also plans to invest in those with excess capacity such as steel and shipping.

The PV, steel and shipping sectors have excess capacity in China, according to Liao Feng, chief investment officer of China Mingsheng International Capital Ltd, the overseas investment arm of CMI.

However, there are many other countries around the world, such as those in Southeast Asia, that are in need of facilities in those sectors, Liao added.