(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-24 15:28

BEIJING -- The China Development Bank (CDB) and the Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA) signed an agreement to set up a venture capital fund to boost high-technologies start-ups in the fastest-growing economic zone in North China.

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) website, www.most.gov.cn, released Monday the joint efforts to kick off the first government-backed venture capital worth two billion yuan (US$270 million) with equal contributions from the CDB and the TBNA.

The government venture capital corporation is organized within the prevailing corporate framework of Western countries, with a stakeholders' meeting, a board of directors and a supervisors committee, the website said. It also has an investment decision committee and a risk management committee which are expected to try to reach sound investment decisions and control business risks.

Pi Qiansheng, a vice-ministerial official who heads the TBNA administration, said the government funded and operated venture capital would primarily perform as fund of funds, an investment fund that uses an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing tangible projects.

Pi said that the fund of funds will choose both domestic and overseas outstanding venture capital funds, including private equity funds, to invest. Those selected venture capital funds in partnership will be asked to prioritize their investment portfolio in high-technologies start-ups based in the TBNA. The preferred business areas would be electronics, bio-engineering, new materials, new energy, environmental protection and automated manufacturing.

Pi said the venture capital corporation has a full strategy, including entry and exit plans, for future investment, the website said.

"Our ultimate goal is to push the most competitive start-ups in the area to get a public listing either in home or overseas stock exchanges," Pi said.

The TBNA, consisting of the major ports and tariff-free warehouse areas in Tianjin, has more than 6,300 companies, including over 70 joint ventures with the world's top 500 companies.

The CDB, a policy bank founded by the central government in 1994, is now active in providing venture capital funds in the most rapid growing cities in China. It provides funds for other venture capitals which are interested in investing in rising industries in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuhan and Xi'an.

The Chinese government encourages companies, both state-owned and private-owned, to become the primary forces of innovation. The government dishes out more and more funds of funds and seed funds, which are provided to help a business develop an idea, create the first product, and market the product for the first time.

The MOST is now organizing a nationwide survey on innovation capabilities and competitiveness of start-up businesses. The survey, according to MOST officials, is expected to help understand more precisely how much those fund-thirsty start-ups need.