HK Investment Corp to get cracking on returns

Staff reporter

Hong Kong Investment Corp will start its investment with proceeds from the city's revived investor visa scheme in the first quarter of next year, involving at least HK$300 million in the first batch.

Chief executive Clara Chan Ka-chai said the capital will be channelled to a low-altitude economy, elderly care assisted by artificial intelligence as well as data science to promote the development of arts and culture or creative industries, whose growth Hong Kong could benefit from in the future.

Hong Kong officially launched its new Capital Investment Entrant Scheme in March, which requires each applicant to invest at least HK$30 million into permissible investment assets. Of that HK$30 million, HK$3 million must be invested into a portfolio set up and managed by HKIC.

The CIES investment under HKIC will be conducted in several phases and will pay out after the seven-year lock-up period, beginning from January 1, 2025. Seven years also happens to be the minimum duration a person must stay in Hong Kong before applying to become a permanent resident.

The requirement aims to guide and support firms or projects specializing in technology and innovation as the city strives to transform itself into a global tech hub.

HKIC expects the total capital to be put into the portfolio to hit at least HK$300 million by December, it said.

Chan said HKIC will select two to four fund managers based on the portfolio investing mechanism, which aims to make use of market wisdom and catch potential investment opportunities in advance through a bottom-up approach. Each fund will be worth about HK$50 million.

She added that investments in electric vehicles in previous years have yielded considerable returns.

But Chan emphasized there is no requirement for a set of investment themes and that it is not limited to the development stage of invested enterprises.

HKIC will eventually announce its final list of fund managers, but will not reveal their investment portfolios due to the sensitive information involved.

But the managers will be required to report their progress to applicants on a regular basis.

Chan added that investments related to CIES will not overlap with HKIC's job, which is responsible for investing in hard and core technology, biotech, new energy and green technology with HK$62 billion under management.