InvestmentsAug 26 2014

China group likely ‘six to 12 months’ away from UK launch

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At least one of the largest Chinese asset management firms is likely to set up shop in the UK in the next six to 12 months, according to Harrington Cooper’s managing partner Harry Dickinson.

Mr Dickinson said his firm, which acts as a UK distributor for international fund managers, has been talking to Chinese asset managers for the past few years about UK launches and some of them are now close to establishing a UK presence.

He said: “Within the next six to 12 months I would be surprised if we did not see one of the larger asset managers establish itself either physically or by partnership in the UK.”

While there has been interest from Chinese firms for years, Mr Dickinson said there had been “a pick-up in the past few years” and that Harrington Cooper had spoken to “several businesses” already this year.

Mr Dickinson said the firms were still exploring whether to set up a fully functioning branch in the UK, to partner with existing UK asset managers or to use a third party sales and marketing firm to push their products.

He said a major change in the way the groups approached a UK launch has been in their attitude to “culture”.

“The big thing with a lot of the Chinese groups is that they have struggled to think locally,” he said.

“They seemed to think that what works for them domestically would work elsewhere.”

But Mr Dickinson noted that there had been a change in approach and that the firms were willing to take a long term view on entry into the market.

The new entrants are likely to focus on promoting their Asia Pacific franchises, according to Mr Dickinson.

He acknowledged that there had not been much demand for Asian funds in recent years but said that with the main incumbents having accumulated a large amount of assets now, there is now “demand for high quality Asia Pacific managers”.