SHANGHAI, CHINA--(Marketwire - April 19, 2010) - Shijiazhuang Development and Investment Co., Ltd. and ARC China held a signing ceremony on April 13, 2010 to form the Shijiazhuang-ARC Investment Fund I (the "Fund"), which will be established through a joint investment fund totaling RMB 300 million (US $44 million). This fund will be joining the successful Shijiazhuang Venture Capital Investment Guidance Fund already established in the area. The primary focus of the Shijiazhuang-ARC Investment Fund will be on investment in the industrial economy, primarily on premium companies in the alternative energy, consumer products, media, bio-pharmaceutical, electronic information, equipment manufacturing, and modern service industries.
Mr. Gao Huimin, Executive Director and General Manager of Shijiazhuang Development and Investment Co., Ltd., Mr. Tang Zhiqin, vice director of Shijiazhuang Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Mr. Zhang Sijia, Director of the Information and Consultancy Division under ICC-NDRC, and Adam Roseman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ARC China, attended the signing ceremony.
Shijiazhuang is a major industrial city in North China and is the provincial capital and economic center of Hebei province with a registered population of over 9.5 million. Shijiazhuang is 280 kilometers southwest of Beijing and will be the beneficiary of a high speed rail that will make the city accessible to Beijing within an hour by 2012.
The establishment of the Fund will not only contribute to the development of a regional financial center in Shijiazhuang but also will strengthen Shijiazhuang's position as a leader in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry and allow the city to build competencies in other value-added industries.
Mr. Gao said that the Fund would create a win-win situation for both parties. ARC China and its partners will harvest attractive returns from their local investments while local enterprises will greatly benefit from the ARC China's global resources and management and corporate governance expertise.
ARC China will partner with the Westly Group, one of America's leading clean technology venture capital firms, to manage the Fund and to promote the growth of China's rapidly expanding clean technology market. The Westly Group is led by former California State Controller (Chief Financial Officer) and eBay executive Steve Westly, and 30-year investment banking and venture capital veteran Michael Dorsey.
ARC China is a wholly owned foreign enterprise focusing on investment in China's domestic consumption-oriented high-growth enterprises in the developing Tier II and III cities. According to the agreement, ARC China will provide services including due diligence, market analysis, transaction negotiation, corporate governance advisory for portfolio companies, and suggestions and analyses of exit opportunities. ARC China will expand access for companies in the Shijiazhuang area to foreign capital and facilitate an increase in local employment.
Mr. Li Jinlu, Vice Mayor of Shijiazhuang Municipality, expressed a cordial welcome to the ARC China team and commented that the joint fund would be helpful in upgrading the city's financial infrastructure and would allow the city to become an increasingly prominent location for its industries of focus.
ARC China has previously reached public-private joint equity fund agreements in Dalian, Liaoning Province; Chengdu, Sichuan Province; Danyang, Jiangsu Province; and Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province. The total fund size of agreements signed to date, including the Shijiazhuang based fund, amounts to RMB 2.15 billion (US $315 million).
Contact Information:
Contact:
ARC China
phone: +86 21 6323 1717
