By Selena Li
HONG KONG, May 15 (Reuters) - Schroders is exiting its wholly owned China fund unit and has reached a deal to sell its products to Neuberger Berman, three people with knowledge of the matter said, as the British fund manager looks to move out of its smaller operations.
The move, which was first reported by Reuters, comes a month after Schroders' shareholders approved the 9.9 billion pound ($13.2 billion) sale of the historic London fund house to U.S. rival Nuveen to create one of the world's
largest active fund managers.
U.S. asset manager Neuberger's wholly owned China unit has reached a deal with Schroders to take over fund products from Shanghai-headquartered Schroders Fund Management (China), which was launched in 2023, said the sources.
Financial details of the deal were not immediately known. Schroders is separately seeking interest in the fund management unit's licence, two of the people said, which would allow a buyer to instantly operate a fully owned unit in China's $5.6 trillion fund market. One of the potential buyers in talks is South Korean firm Mirae Asset Financial Group, they added.
All the sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media. Schroders and Neuberger declined to comment. Mirae did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
FIRST TO EXIT
Schroders obtained Chinese regulatory approval to set up the wholly owned mutual fund unit in January 2023, as Beijing accelerated the opening up of its financial sector, worth trillions of dollars, to foreigners.
The unit managed 1.7 billion yuan ($249.89 million) in mutual fund assets as of end-March, its latest reports showed, a tiny fraction of the parent company's $1.1 trillion global assets.
The sources said the exit will not affect the operation of Schroders' two other joint ventures in China - a Schroders-controlled wealth management unit with China's state-owned Bank of Communications and a minority-owned Bank of Communications Schroders Fund Management unit.
China in 2020 allowed foreign firms to run fully owned fund management businesses in the local market, allowing the entry of global asset managers including BlackRock and Fidelity International. Schroders is the first to exit after setting up a wholly owned unit.
London-listed shares of Schroders were 0.3% lower at 1020 GMT.
($1 = 0.7492 pounds)
(Reporting by Selena Li，additional reporting by Iain Withers in London; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Toby Chopra, Kirsten Donovan)
