T. Rowe Price has announced it has opened an investment research office in Shanghai to strengthen equity research coverage, a move that followed the establishment of a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) in Shanghai’s Free Trade Zone, it said.
The new office would be expected to help expand and deepen T. Rowe Price’s research coverage of China’s growing investment universe, and to employ additional analysts on the ground who can cover Chinese companies locally.
The new office would be led by Dai Wang, a Chinese national who joined the firm in 2014 and worked as a research analyst in T. Rowe Price’s equity division covering Asian stocks in Hong Kong as well as in the firm’s headquarters in Baltimore.
“The opening of our office in Shanghai represents an important milestone for T. Rowe Price, both in terms of bolstering our coverage of and commitment to China, as well as our long-term plan to build a sustainable and diversified business in Asia Pacific,” Justin Thomson, head of international equity and co-head of global equity, who oversaw the office opening, said.
“The new office will amplify our ability to conduct investment research locally and seize opportunities in the Chinese market for our clients. We look forward to welcoming on board new mainland Chinese colleagues who will play an essential role in unearthing a wide range of carefully selected high-quality companies with strong future outlooks in the Chinese market.”
T. Rowe Price currently had two China-focused strategies managed out of Hong Kong and had invested US$4.77 billion into securities listed in Mainland China as of December 31, 2020, in addition to the US$36.92 billion invested in Chinese securities listed on offshore exchanges, the firm said.
