T Rowe Price Expands Shanghai Operations

Editorial Staff

2 March 2021

T Rowe Price Group has opened a research office in Shanghai after setting up a wholly-owned foreign enterprise in China within the city’s free trade zone in February. The WFOE is called T Rowe Price Investment Consulting Co.

The new office is designed to expand and deepen the US firm’s research coverage of China and employ more analysts on the ground who can cover Chinese companies locally.

Dai Wang, a Chinese national who joined the firm in 2014, will lead the new office. Dai Wang has worked as a research analyst in T Rowe Price’s equity division covering Asian stocks in Hong Kong and in the firm’s headquarters in Baltimore, US.

“China is home to some of the most exciting investment opportunities in the world. With more than 5,000 names in its investment universe, it has emerged as the second largest equity market globally and is one of the broadest and deepest growth markets outside of the US,” Justin Thomson, head of international equity and co-head of global equity, said.

“The new office will amplify our ability to conduct investment research locally and seize opportunities in the Chinese market for our clients,” Thomson said.

T Rowe Price has two China-focused strategies managed from Hong Kong. Through its Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor licences and the Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Connect schemes, the firm invested $4.77 billion into securities listed in Mainland China as of 31 December 2020, in addition to the $36.92 billion invested in Chinese securities listed on offshore exchanges.

The firm set up its first Asia ex-Japan office in Hong Kong in 1987. Shanghai joins Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne in its collection of Asian bases.