CICC Capital, the private equity arm of Hong Kong-listed investment bank China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC), has raised over 1.6 billion yuan ($229 million) for a biomedicine fund, it said in a statement.
Launched by CICC Capital in October 2019, the fund was originally aiming to collect 1.5 billion yuan ($215 million). It seeks to invest in the biological medicine industry.
As the fund manager, CICC put in an aggregate of 20 million yuan ($2.9 million) in the vehicle. The other investors include state-owned Hebei Port Group, Shenzhen-listed Pharscin Pharma, Xiamen Fig Group, Fujian Sunner Group, Huirong Qide Investment, Xi’an Huirong and Xinwen Venture Capital, a subsidiary of Sichuan Daily Press Group, among others.
Pharscin has infused 30 million yuan ($4 million) to pick up a 1.84 per cent stake in the fund, according to its filing with Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Friday.
CICC claims the new fund is one of the largest biomedicine funds in the last two years.
The fund comes at a time when COVID-19, which appears to have started in central China’s Wuhan city, has resulted in 63,851 infections and 1,380 fatalities in the country as of February 13.
Established in 2017, CICC Capital has more than 300 billion yuan ($42 billion) in assets under management. The firm operates government-backed funds in emerging industries, funds focused on the restructuring of traditional sectors, USD and RMB funds of funds, and USD and RMB private equity funds with various strategies including venture capital, growth, buyout and distressed investment, per its website.