Baillie Gifford has registered as a private securities fund manager in China and opened an office in Shanghai.
The manager, which runs around £45 billion ($58.1 billion) in China, equating to about 17% of total assets under management, will be able to invest in more Chinese companies and launch private strategies to Chinese investors, a news release said.
The money manager has relationships with Chinese firms including Alibaba, Ant Group and Tencent and provided funding to some companies when they were still private, the release said. They have continued to support and invest after companies went public.
A number of staff have relocated to China from Edinburgh to deepen existing relationships with Chinese companies, improve understanding of cultural developments and forge more academic partnerships.
John MacDougall relocated to Shanghai in September 2019 as chairman and chief strategy officer for China. He joined the firm in Edinburgh in 2000 and became a partner in 2016. Details on any replacement in Edinburgh were not available.
Amy Wang is head of China, responsible for business development and operations. She joined the firm last year.
Linda Lin relocated to China as head of investment research following six years in the Edinburgh office. Rio Tu also relocated to China as an investment manager.
The money manager, which runs a total £262 billion in assets, has also been recruiting local staff for roles in operations, investment research, trading, compliance, business development and marketing.
"We are building a team based in Shanghai to provide devoted, local expertise to boost our research into these rising Chinese companies," Mr. MacDougall said in the release. "We hope that combining knowledge from the team on-the-ground with broader perspective from investment teams in Edinburgh will allow us to assess the opportunities with greater insight, in the search to find China's future winners."
