The China Securities Regulatory Commission has authorised BNY Mellon and Western Securities to create a joint venture fund management company in China. The new company, BNY Mellon Western Fund Management Company, will be owned by BNY Mellon (49 per cent) and Western Securities (51 per cent). BNY Mellon Western Fund Management will initially manage domestic Chinese securities in a range of local retail fund products. Over time, the venture will develop further products using the scale and expertise of the broader BNY Mellon group. BNY Mellon Western Fund Management will also focus on leveraging distribution within the Chinese banking and securities sectors, building awareness of the new company in the region.

Law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has broadened its reach in China with the addition of Rocky Lee (pictured), a lawyer specialising in Asian equity markets. Lee joins Cadwalader as Asia managing partner and head of its Greater China corporate practice in the corporate department.

The BlackBerry Partners Fund has developed its investment activities with the launch of a USD100m affiliate fund focused on mobile investment opportunities in China. BlackBerry Partners Fund China is a new joint venture between China Broadband Capital Partners, a venture capital and private equity manager focused on media and communications investments in China since 2006, and BlackBerry Partners Fund. The fund will invest exclusively in opportunities supporting the emerging mobile ecosystem in China, the world’s largest mobile market. It is expected to close on 31 August 2010.

The Lyxor/Martin Currie China Dragon Fund is a long/short equity fund investing in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It has been run by James Chong since February 2008 as a model portfolio, returning 12.6%.

The fund will add to the $4.7 billion already managed by Martin Currie in strategies dedicated to the greater China region. The fund will utilise the company’s 13-strong China research and portfolio management team based in Shanghai and Edinburgh to carry out bottom-up analysis of companies in the region.

Taiwan’s privately owned Fubon Financial Holding Co. (FHC) is planning to cooperate with the investment fund of China’s state-run China Development Bank, as well as the Fujian provincial government, to set up an industrial venture capital fund.

Ashmore, an emerging markets asset manager, has presented the Ashmore Greater China Fund. The fund has a US dollar base currency and will invest primarily in onshore Renminbi denominated investments permitted under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) scheme.