(MENAFN- TimesNewswire ) In Xiamen Hubian Reservoir area, there is a waterfront courtyard- and garden-style commerce and office complex,“Goodstone Fund Town,” which is a key project developed by Huli District of Xiamen City.
As a“golden” business card of investment promotion in Huli District, the Goodstone Fund Town covers an area of approximately 23,000 square meters and is close to important industrial clusters such as the BRICS Digital Industrial Intelligence Valley, Software Park, and Guanyinshan Headquarters Economic Zone. Stepping into the“town,” you will be immediately struck by the sense of magnificence, exquisiteness, and comfort.
In recent years, with the support of Xiamen Municipal Government and Huli District Government, the Goodstone Fund Town has continuously attracted private equity institutions and high-quality enterprises through policy support such as incentives for settlement, business incentives, rent subsidies, talent incentives, and risk subsidies. The local government has also turned“stone” into“gold” through these high-quality capital institutions.
Goodstone Fund Town
Fund towns emerge at the right time
In the past decade, fund town has become a buzzword in China's financial industry. Driven by the fund industry, it aims to bring together various types of funds and related institutions, build a financial industry ecosystem, realize the docking of capital with the real economy, and provide financial capital support for economic transformation and upgrading, innovation-driven development, and supply-side reform.
The earliest international fund town is Greenwich in the eastern United States, which currently houses more than 500 fund management institutions. Nearly half of the global hedge funds with asset under management exceeding 1 billion US dollars have their headquarters there.
By creating a refined, small, and beautiful working and living environment, the fund town attracts various venture capital funds, private equity investment funds, securities investment funds, and related financial service institutions, forming a high-quality economic force in the field of wealth management to promote the deep integration of finance and the real economy. This model has been continuously learned from and replicated in many regions at home and abroad.
In particular, the implementation of supply-side structural reforms has made local governments step up promotion of local industrial restructuring and upgrading. The actual role that fund towns can play in local industrial restructuring and upgrading, resource pooling, and tax revenue increase has made them an emerging organizational form that local governments compete to use.
In July 2012, Nanhu District of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, proposed building an equity investment industry cluster town, marking the birth of the first fund town in China. As China's private equity fund industry continues to grow and develop, the scale and number of fund towns across the country have been on the rise. By 2022, the number of fund towns in China had reached 121, including 5 national-level fund towns and 116 provincial- and municipal-level financial towns.
Goodstone Fund Town
Goodstone Fund Town
In Xiamen Cross-strait Regional Financial Center, the construction of a fund town that serves the financial needs of both sides of the Taiwan Strait is the key to accelerating Xiamen's development as a strong financial city, enhancing the level of financial services, and building a highland of financial innovation.
Against this backdrop, the Goodstone Fund Town emerged.
It is worth mentioning that after more than four years of development, the Goodstone Fund Town has stood out among numerous financial towns across China, becoming a window for financial innovation in Xiamen and attracting many well-known investment institutions and listed companies, such as CICC Capital, Broad River Capital, Matrix Partners China, and G-bits, to establish their presence in Xiamen.
According to incomplete statistics, the Goodstone Fund Town has currently brought together more than 300 investment enterprises with a registered capital exceeding 45 billion yuan.
The secret behind its rapid growth
The rapid growth of the Goodstone Fund Town can be attributed to the interaction of three factors – opportune time, geographic advantage, and unity of the people.
In terms of timing, the Goodstone Fund Town received strong support from the local government at its inception.
Ke Lan, general manager of Goodstone Fund Town Operations Management Company
“This is a pilot area for policies, a hub for funds, and a pool for resources.” According to Ke Lan, general manager of Xiamen Goodstone Fund Town Operations Management Company, as the first municipal fund town in Xiamen, this project was launched by the Xiamen Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, with policy support from the Management Committee of Xiamen Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone and Huli District Government. It was jointly built by the three parties. It is currently the first characteristic financial hub that houses fund of funds, private equity, and private securities investment funds in Xiamen.
Layout plan of the Goodstone Fund Town
As to geographical location, the Goodstone Fund Town is in Art Gpark, Huli District, which is in the core area of the Cross-strait Regional Financial Center. It enjoys convenient transportation, only a 15-minute drive from Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and close to important industrial clusters such as Software Park Phase II, Huli High-tech Park, and Guanyinshan Headquarters Economic Zone. The fund town is adjacent to the Hubian Reservoir, enjoying a unique lakeside view, making it a rare low-density waterfront courtyard- and garden-style commercial and office complex in a financial district.
Such an oasis of serenity amidst the hustle and bustle is highly favored by venture capitalists in the financial industry. Xie Zhishan, chairman of Shinebidder (Xiamen) Private Equity Management Co., Ltd., is one of the representatives.
Shinebidder (Xiamen) Private Equity Management Co., Ltd. Chairman Xie Zhishan
Xie Zhishan relocated his company to the Goodstone Fund Town in 2023. In his view, a convenient, warm, refined, and core office environment can better empower financial enterprises and help provide quality services to investors.
From the perspective of human efforts, the Goodstone Fund Town adopts a model of“government support + market-oriented operation.” Starting from the needs of fund institutions, it plans public service spaces that cater to industry demands, integrating industry exhibition, policy information, roadshow center, shared offices, and industry salons. With one-stop enterprise service capabilities, it serves as a bridge for exchange and cooperation among fund investment institutions, entrepreneurs, government departments, and financial experts.
An industry exchange event was held in the Goodstone Fund Town
“The fund town often organizes investment and financing matchmaking meetings, industry salons, and other activities to allow investment institutions and invested companies to communicate and interact with each other. We love it, as it creates a good competitive atmosphere and also provides a great opportunity for future cooperation to empower enterprises,” said Han Qize, investment director of Xiamen SZHTI Jinyuan Private Equity Management Co., Ltd.
Han Qize, investment director of Xiamen SZHTI Jinyuan Private Equity Management Co., Ltd.
Han Qize believes that the Goodstone Fund Town has made innovation in the industrial chain investment promotion. On the one hand, the town attracts and exports resources smoothly. On the other hand, the town implements policies efficiently and responds quickly to meet the needs of enterprises in a timely manner.
Huli District makes efforts to turn“stone” into“gold”
The world today is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century. The new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial reform concurs with the transformation of China's development model, with external environmental risks and uncertainties intertwined.
“Optimizing regional economic structure and developing strategic emerging industries have become a major pursuit for local governments to transform their economic development mode.” Many industry insiders think that in terms of industrial transformation and upgrading and the implementation of innovation-driven development strategies, fund towns can play a bigger role than other characteristic towns.
In fact, Huli District, where the Goodstone Fund Town is located, is constantly making efforts.
As the birthplace of Xiamen Special Economic Zone, Huli has a deep foundation for the development of the special economic zone. Located in the central urban area of Xiamen, it has obvious geographical advantages, solid industrial foundation, well-established urban supporting facilities, sufficient development space and superior living environment. Within its jurisdiction, there are the national-level Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries and the Xiamen Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone. It is home to many modern enterprises and large domestic and foreign-funded enterprises, including more than 50 Fortune 500 investment enterprises, nearly 500 national high-tech enterprises, and more than 120 specialized and sophisticated SMEs that produce novel and unique products. There are 25 listed companies both at home and abroad in the district.
With the settlement of more capital institutions in the Goodstone Fund Town, the financial environment in Huli District has been significantly improved, and the fund industry is expanding at a faster pace in the district. By the end of 2023, there were 162 registered private equity fund management companies and 412 filed private equity funds (including venture capital) in Huli.
These fund companies are constantly feeding back to the industry.
Xiamen Talent Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fund I, the first talent fund in Fujian Province, was launched in the Goodstone Fund Town in June 2021. After more than one year, the fund invested over 100 million yuan in high-level talent entrepreneurship projects recognized by the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee Talent Office, benefiting many key and core technology enterprises, such as Mingjian Technology which specializes in autonomous driving technology, SET Electronics which focuses on the traditional niche area of fuses, and Nanya Electronics which focuses on manufacturing aerospace sensors.
Dai Lesheng, member of the Standing Committee of CPC Huli District Committee, Executive Deputy Governor of Huli District, said that the Goodstone Fund Town project actively leverages the resource advantages of the fund town operating companies and fully plays the important role of the market in resource allocation to achieve complementary advantages.
“In the future, we will leverage the effectiveness of the Goodstone Fund Town in gathering private equity funds, pooling capital, talents, and information, and striving to build an upstream and downstream industrial chain ecosystem for the fund industry. We will further gather and leverage the power of capital, empower the local real economy, promote the interactive development of financial capital and the real economy, and incubate, cultivate, and develop emerging enterprises.” said Ke Lan, general manager of Xiamen Goodstone Fund Town Operations Management Company.
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