US investment firm Artisan Partners to liquidate China portfolio by end-June

Mint

20 hours ago

Firm says liquidation comes amid uncertain geopolitical environment
Spokesperson says Hong Kong office will remain operational
US has heightened scrutiny of American capital flowing into China
By Kane Wu and Summer Zhen
HONG KONG, - U.S.-based investment firm Artisan Partners is liquidating a China-focused investment portfolio by the end of June, a company spokesperson said on Saturday.
"This decision comes amid an increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment and a persistently challenging economic and market backdrop, which have put significant pressure on flows across dedicated China strategies," the Artisan spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said its Hong Kong office will remain operational, housing investment and trading professionals.
Two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday that the firm was disbanding the Hong Kong-based team responsible for its Greater China strategy. One said the decision was partly due to concerns about escalating Sino-U.S. trade and geopolitical tensions that have made investments in the world's second-largest economy riskier.
The sources declined to be named as the information was not public. Reuters could not immediately ascertain how many people would be affected by the decision.
The firm's China post-venture strategy, a fund that focuses on Chinese small- and mid-cap public and private companies, had $113 million of assets under management at the end of April, according to the firm's monthly update.
In the same update, Artisan said the China-focused portfolio was in the process of winding down, without giving details.
The firm's retreat from China-focused investments comes amid the U.S. government's tightened scrutiny of American investments in China and an ongoing trade war that has clouded the business outlook of many export-heavy companies from China.
The U.S. government restricts U.S. investments in certain sensitive technology sectors in China, such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
U.S. investors are also restricted from investing in companies that are on the U.S. sanctioned entity list that comprise a growing number of those from China.
U.S. onshore investors were not able to buy shares of Chinese battery giant CATL in its $4.6 billion Hong Kong listing last month due to the structure of the deal, CATL's filings showed.
CATL was placed on a U.S. Defense Department list in January of Chinese companies it says work with China's military.
By March 2025, Artisan's China post-venture strategy posted a net loss of 10.4% since its inception in March 2021.
"The largest risks for investing in China will continue to be geopolitics and domestic policy overshoots," Tiffany Hsiao, the strategy's portfolio manager, said in a client letter on the firm's website in April.
Outside the U.S., Artisan also has offices in London, Dublin, Singapore and Sydney, according to its website.
The move follows the exit or downsizing of several North American asset managers and international law firms from Hong Kong over the past few years.
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Canada's third-largest pension fund, announced the closure of its Hong Kong office in March.
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