US$1.49b fund to help local firms

Jiading, in cooperation with Shanghai Stock Exchange and Wenzhou, Kunshan, Taicang and SAIC Motor, has established an equity investment fund with an initial 10 billion yuan (US$1.49 billion) to promote the integration of the capital market with the real economy and the construction of the Science and Technology Innovation Center, as well as help quality enterprises agglomerate in the Yangtze River Delta region.

“To launch strategic cooperation with Shanghai Stock Exchange is Jiading’s answer to the national strategy and the requirements of the city’s leadership,” said Zhang Xi, the district’s Party secretary.

Jiading has a strong manufacturing base, numerous scientific and technological enterprises, concentrated scientific and technological resources and strong financing demands, Zhang said.

“To launch strategic cooperation with Shanghai Stock Exchange is conducive to accelerating the construction of becoming a major site of science and technology innovation center and a world-class automotive manufacturing hub,” said Zhang.

“It also provides a strong grip for Jiading to upgrade its functional level and core competitiveness, and build itself into an innovative and dynamic town.”

Que Bo, executive vice president of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, vowed to enhance exchanges and cooperation with Jiading-based technology companies and help more Jiading firms land on capital markets.

The cooperation between Jiading and the Shanghai Stock Exchange will focus on three aspects — cultivating more Jiading companies for listing, building a workshop in Jiading as a major platform to serve technology companies and capital markets in the region, and to establish a Yangtze River Delta advanced manufacturing and automotive industry index.

With the deepening of the integration of the delta, high quality development of the financial service economy has become a strategic consensus with overall significance.

The Shanghai Yangtze River Delta Industrial Upgrading Equity Investment Fund will focus on the fields of advanced manufacturing, biomedicine, consumption and high technology.

It will give priority to the development of equipment manufacturing, the automotive industry, next generation information technology and artificial intelligence.