If you’re looking for investments that pack a bunch, China is definitely the place to look.  As reported recently by Adam Roseman in his weekly newsletter for ARC Investment Partners, Shanghai now ranks sixth as the one of the most competitive financial centers in the world.

 

This ranking shows an improvement, as it was eighth last year, according to the Xinhua-Dow Jones International Financial Centers Development Index (IFCD Index) that was recently issued. The IFCD Index was jointly launched by CFC Holding Company, Ltd, a subsidiary of Xinhua News Agency, and CME Group Index Services LLC (Dow Jones Indexes).

 

As part of the index, they looked at 45 international financial centers that were evaluated for their overall performance and related development environments.  The top 10 cities, in order of influence, this year were: New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Paris, Frankfurt, Sydney, and Amsterdam.

China has managed to gain on the United States, and it will actually surpass the U.S. as the largest economy in another decade or two, according to a Chinese economist at a world economic congress in Beijing recently.  As reported on the ARC China website by Adam Roseman of ARC Investment Parners, the economist, Qian Yingyi sais that China would soon be the world’s largest economy before 2020, when looking at PPP.

 

Qian discussed these predictions at the 16th World Congress of the International Economic Association (IEA) at Tsinghua University.  He was there with many world renowned economists for a five day conference.

 

As Qian said, “If the real growth rate difference between China and the United States remains at least 5 percent and the yuan appreciates at an annual rate of at least 2 percent relative to the US dollar, then China will overtake the United States in less than 16 years or before 2025.”

 

This is certainly interesting information for companies like ARC Investment Partners which invest in China and in Chinese interprises.

Recent news from Bright Food, a Chinese food manufacturer, is that it is currently involved in “exclusive negotiations” to purchase United Biscuits in the UK.  Other companies were bidding for this, such as Campbell Soup Co., but got knocked out of the deal.  It seems that this UK food manufacturer may be valued at a staggering $3.16 billion.  Thus if such a deal does go ahead, it would definitely add to the prestige of Bright Food as well as spell good news for the Chinese market.   Through ARC China (ARC Investment Partners), Adam Roseman is involved in making investments in China.

No one can argue the facts on the ground:  investing in China is a good thing, if not a great thing.  Things there are booming.  Indeed, it looks like the country is even showing signs of becoming the next economic world giant.  Just look at the figures:  the country’s GDP is growing at around 10% per year (in America this figure is 3%).  As well, the population of middle class in China is estimated to double in the next five years.  Those who have decided to invest in China in recent years, such as Adam Roseman of ARC China (ARC Investment Partners) have been well rewarded since “the average mutual fund that invests in China and the nearby Asian Tiger nations has gained 17.5% over the past three years, far better than the S&P 500′s ($INX) 5.4%.”

Adam Roseman and ARC China are riding the economic boom which is currently taking place in the Chinese economy. With a focus on Tier II and Tier III cities in China, ARC Investment Partners opened a new regional office in the north-eastern city of Dalian. Since ARC China is currently directing its investments at China’s domestic consumption-oriented businesses in developing cities, the Dalian office was a crucial step in improving the company’s ability to offer ‘on-the-ground’ operational support for specific funds which have been established to invest in the area.
Adam Roseman explained this move to open a new branch office in Dalian. “As part of our ongoing expansion, ARC China is pleased to open its newest office in Dalian,” said Adam Roseman. Roseman continued, “The addition of this office will be extremely beneficial in allowing us to offer day-to-day support for the Fund as well as grow our operations in one of China’s premier financial centers.”