ACG: working to promote sustainable development

Tianjin's mayor has remarked at a forum in his city that its experiments with financial reforms and innovation in recent years have been gratifying and fruitful and that private equity investment there has seen rapid development.

Mayor Huang Xingguo's remarks were delivered on Friday at the 5th China International Private Equity Forum (CIPEF), which runs from June 10 to 12.

Huang noted that the city currently has more than 1,200 funds and management enterprises, with more than 230 billion yuan in total registered capital.

"Tianjin is now a gathering place for domestic equity investment. We're creating more favorable conditions and are dedicating ourselves to building a hub for the distribution, management, trading, and training of equity investment funds," he explained.

CIPEF has become a high-level global equity investment and financing forum with enormous transactions and strong influence, Huang said.

This year's event sticks to its guiding principles of "contributing to global capital flow, establishing a direct fund-raising system, promoting enterprise growth, and advancing regional development".

Government officials, industry experts, and business leaders from around the world have come to share their insights at the three-day event.

Sun Anmin, vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, helped put the spotlight on small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) fundraising, especially for technology firms: "This is the first year of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) in China, and a crucial period for changing our economic growth mode. SMEs are important vehicles for this transformation."

Sun went on to say that, "Tech companies cannot develop without the financial institutions' help. The premise of their research, development and innovation is a combination of technology and finance.

"And CIPEF will play a positive role in helping these enterprises, especially tech firms, in equity financing."

Vice-Minister of Science and Technology Wang Weizhong said that Tianjin has been one of the top cities in the country for many years in economic growth.

And, it has ranked third in overall scientific and technological progress for nine consecutive years. It is also home to a number of world leaders in the field of technology.

Wang said that CIPEF is a good place for enterprises to meet with financial institutions to further integrate scientific and research developments with capital.

"CIPEF has become an important place for developing equity investment and financing, and for developing the capital market," he emphasized.

Michael A. Carr, board chairman of ACG Global, one of the event's hosts, praised Tianjin and the event, by saying that "the future of Tianjin and CIPEF look bright. And ACG is working to promote sustainable development in China."

(China Daily 06/11/2011 page8)