Chinese AMCs see large profits in 2012

BEIJING -- China's four asset management companies (AMCs) made combined profits of 37.6 billion yuan ($6.1 billion) in 2012, according to the companies' latest fiscal reports.

Cinda, which became a joint-stock company in 2010, reported profits of 13.6 billion yuan, while Huarong, which became a joint-stock company in 2012, realized profits of 12 billion yuan, up 140 percent from a year earlier.

The other two AMCs, Oriental and Great Wall, both made profits of more than 6 billion yuan.

The four AMCs were established in 1999 to deal with the toxic assets of the country's four big state-owned banks in order to help them transform into market-oriented financial institutions.

The four companies finished handling the toxic assets in 2006. Efforts to restructure the firms into joint-stock companies have been ongoing since then.

All four companies are aiming to become comprehensive financial service giants and have won licenses in the banking, insurance, futures and leasing sectors.

Cinda and Huarong have voiced a desire to eventually become listed on domestic and overseas markets, while Oriental and Great Wall are still being restructured into joint-stock companies.