Shanghai-Hong Kong New Economy Cornerstone Fund Officially Launches in Hong Kong

On February 23, the Shanghai-Hong Kong Emerging Industries Cornerstone Fund (hereinafter referred to as the “Cornerstone Fund”), jointly initiated and established by Shanghai Industrial Investment (Holdings) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “SIIC Group”) and Guotai Haitong Securities Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Guotai Haitong”), officially commenced operations, entering the phase of substantive investment. As China’s first securities-type Hong Kong stock cornerstone fund operated on a market-oriented basis at the municipal level in Shanghai, the fund has a target total size of HK$3 billion, with an initial closing of HK$1 billion. It will focus on Shanghai’s three leading industries—integrated circuits, biopharmaceuticals, and artificial intelligence—providing specialized support for high-quality enterprises to list in Hong Kong, thereby deepening financial and industrial synergy between Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The Cornerstone Fund, established under the guidance of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and the Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), represents a significant initiative by Shanghai’s state-owned capital to support the construction of Shanghai as a global science and technology innovation hub and to promote high-quality development in key industries. The fund will strategically focus on Shanghai’s three priority sectors—integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence—leveraging capital markets to accelerate the internationalization of local innovative enterprises. Furthermore, the fund will fully harness Hong Kong’s role as an international financial center to establish an efficient “Shanghai industry + Hong Kong capital” linkage mechanism, fostering complementary financial resources and market interconnectivity between the two regions, thereby setting a new benchmark for Shanghai–Hong Kong cooperation.

The Cornerstone Fund adopts an innovative “dual-manager” governance structure, with Shanghai Industrial Capital (Hong Kong) Investment Management Co., Ltd., the Hong Kong-based financial investment platform of Shanghai Industrial Group, and Haitong International Asset Management Limited, the Hong Kong-based asset management platform of Guotai Haitong, serving as joint fund managers, operating through coordinated efforts between Shanghai and Hong Kong.

This collaborative framework fully integrates the industrial resources of Shanghai Industrial Holdings (SIH), as Shanghai’s window enterprise in Hong Kong, and its local operational advantages, with Guotai Haitong’s professional expertise in global capital markets and cross-border asset management, thereby achieving complementary strengths in both “industry + finance” and “Shanghai + Hong Kong.” By establishing robust investment decision-making mechanisms and risk control systems, this framework ensures that the fund’s operations comply with international standards while maintaining deep connections with the local industrial ecosystem, laying a solid foundation for the fund’s long-term and stable operation.

The Cornerstone Fund adheres to market-oriented, professional, and international operational principles. By integrating industrial and financial perspectives, it has built an investment and empowerment system that covers the entire corporate lifecycle. Through flexible, diversified strategic portfolios and in-depth post-investment services, the Fund systematically supports the business development and value realization of high-quality enterprises in Shanghai’s three leading industries.

In addition to serving as a cornerstone investor for high-quality enterprises in Shanghai’s three leading industries pursuing IPOs in Hong Kong, the Cornerstone Fund may also participate in anchor investments for Hong Kong IPOs and placements of already-listed Hong Kong stocks. By employing a no-lock-up strategy, the Fund maintains liquidity to safeguard investment returns. During significant market downturns, it may increase its holdings in undervalued, high-quality companies through secondary market transactions. The Fund also actively follows up on refinancing and merger-and-acquisition restructuring activities of outstanding enterprises to support their sustainable development. Adhering strictly to the selection criteria of “promising sectors, strong companies, and attractive valuations,” the Cornerstone Fund focuses its investments on industry leaders possessing core technologies, high growth potential, and robust cash flows.

The Cornerstone Fund is one of the key initiatives by Shanghai Industrial Holdings (Group) Co., Ltd. and Guotai Haitong to strengthen their service capabilities in Hong Kong and improve their cross-border investment layout. The Cornerstone Fund not only further refines the fund matrix of Shanghai’s state-owned assets, filling the gap in Hong Kong stock IPOs and secondary market strategies for state-owned funds, but also addresses the “last mile” financing needs of Shanghai-based enterprises listing in Hong Kong. It helps build a complete industrial investment ecosystem spanning “early-stage investment – growth-stage financing – public market listing.” Furthermore, through the deep collaboration between Shanghai Industrial Holdings (Group) and Guotai Haitong, this partnership leverages complementary strengths to achieve win-win outcomes, systematically enhancing capabilities in cross-border compliance, asset allocation, and complex transaction structuring. This further strengthens the comprehensive capacity of Shanghai’s state-owned capital to serve both Shanghai’s development and national strategic objectives.

Amid intensifying global competition in technological innovation, the substantive launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Emerging Industries Cornerstone Fund marks a systematic step forward for Shanghai in aligning with international capital markets and serving local innovation. Supported by policy dividends such as RMB internationalization and the “Five Measures to Benefit Hong Kong,” the Cornerstone Fund will serve as a vital link connecting mainland industrial capital with international financial resources.

In the future, Cornerstone Fund will actively seize the opportunities presented by the internationalization of the renminbi and the two-way opening of financial markets, continuously promote international capital investment in Shanghai’s core industries, provide comprehensive capital services to enterprises in Shanghai’s three leading industries, help more hard-tech companies expand globally, and contribute to the integration of Shanghai and Hong Kong as well as high-quality development.