Noah
In the decade after Noah Holdings’ inception, China’s real estate market was red hot. The firm achieved explosive business growth thanks to demand for its property-related trust products. In recent years, it has not only widened the industry coverage of its wealth management products in China, but also led its peers in exploring asset management opportunities overseas.
Noah, under president Kenny Lam, has stepped up its efforts in establishing an extensive business network and securing business licences overseas in the last four years.
It was granted licences by Hong Kong’s securities regulator for securities trading and asset management in 2012, and the following year it set up a financial advisory subsidiary in Taiwan to help local high net-worth individuals and institutional clients to invest in offshore renminbi-denominated assets.
In 2014, it became the first independent Chinese WM firm to open a trust subsidiary in Hong Kong to provide services such as the management of foundations and offshore businesses, family offices, immigration services and tax planning. In the same year, it also incorporated an insurance brokerage in Hong Kong to expand its range of services for HNW clients.
Noah opened its international business unit, Noah Holdings International, in Hong Kong in 2015 to oversee its rapidly expanding international operations. While tapping the abundant business opportunities and expertise of the local talent pool in Hong Kong, Noah has been expanding its overseas business network in other markets.
Last year it became the first independent Chinese WM firm to operate in an offshore market after it was granted a licence for trust management in Jersey, the offshore financial centre in the Channel Islands. In March 2017, it opened a subsidiary in Silicon Valley in California.
In the last two years, the firm has also partnered with several of the world’s top-tier private equity and asset investment firms including Blackstone, Carlyle Group, Oaktree Capital Management, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Texas Pacific Group, McKinley Capital and Bain Capital to invest assets for its clients.
All this has laid a solid ground for the sustainable growth of Noah’s overseas asset management business. By the end of 2016, the firm’s overseas assets under management reached Rmb16.9 billion ($2.5 billion), up 32% from a year earlier.