(Yicai Global) Sept. 6 -- BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, completed its first mutual fund sale in China’s retail market on Sept. 3. It raised as much as CNY6 billion (USD930 million) in only five days of public subscription, according to people familiar with the sale.

BlackRock issued the fund through its newly-established unit in Shanghai, which is China's first fund manager wholly owned by a foreign company. It decided to end the subscription for its China New Horizon Mixed Securities Investment Fund on Sept. 3, one week before the original deadline, as the subscription had already reached a sufficient amount.

"On the first day of the subscription, the fund raised as much as CNY4 billion, and CNY1.8 billion was sold by my employer,” a person working for the sales department of a leading broker told Yicai Global.

A subscription amount of CNY6 billion is an astronomical figure for foreign-owned assets managers in China. Previously, private equity products issued by foreign institutions in China could barely reach CNY100 million (USD15.5 million), with most of them raising just half of it.

"It is hard to say foreign funds have absolute advantages over domestic peers on basic investment strategy," a person working for a foreign assets manager told Yicai Global. "Besides investment results, the distribution channel is also vital to succeed in the Chinese market." 

Using local investment talents and taking the high-growth new energy sector as main investment target are also key reasons behind the fund's popularity among Chinese investors. 

Tang Hua, the fund manager selected by BlackRock for this public fund, has 16 years of experience in researching and investing in China’s stock market. It mainly focuses on long-term investment opportunities from new energy, pan consumption, digitalization, pension health, and industrial innovation sectors, per the fundraising announcement.

BlackRock China New Horizon Mixed Securities Investment Fund's success seemingly boosted the confidence of other foreign institutions that are preparing for the launch of mutual besides privately-offered funds.

After BlackRock, Fidelity also started preparatory work of introducing mutual funds and will be able to issue mutual fund products after passing the local regulators' inspection. Neuberger Berman, AllianceBernstein, VanEck and others have also submitted their applications to the China Securities Regulatory Commission.  

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione