Rusnano, Russia’s national nanotech investment corporation, and Zhongrong International Trust, a major Chinese investment and banking corporation, have agreed to launch a joint investment fund in the field of nanotechnologies.
Signed last week, the agreement contains some legally binding clauses, Rusnano Senior Managing Director Ashot Maryan told Russian business daily Vedomosti.
The partners will provide their equity investments in equal portions and establish a joint management company.
Christened “Rusnano Zhongrong United Investment Fund,” the entity will invest $500 million “in the first phase,” with $25 million or more injected in each project as a rule.
The fund will focus on projects at the growth stage in the fields of energy (including electric energy, oil and gas), microelectronics and biotechnologies. At least 70% of the projects will be developed in Russia, the remaining ones in China or other countries.
“The purpose of our partnership is to set up competitive production not just for the Russian and Chinese markets but also the global market,” stated Anatoly Chubais, the head of Rusnano.
Rusnano initially planned to create such an investment vehicle in partnership with the EBRD. However, the western bank froze its projects in Russia amid the international tensions caused by the Ukrainian crisis, triggering Rusnano to seek partners in Asia.
Several other bilateral high tech funds have been launched, or considered, over the past years. In April 2015 Cybernaut Investment, a major Chinese fund that invests in early- and growth-stage companies, agreed to finance a $200-million venture fund in association with Skolkovo, the international tech hub under completion on the outskirts of Moscow. Cybernaut also committed itself to inject $70 million in a satellite project led by Dauria Aerospace, a Russian space technology company, with a joint venture set to be created in Hong Kong.
