Back and forth between philanthropic financier George Soros and the world‘s number one asset management giant BlackRock. It all started with an editorial signed by Soros published in the edition of the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, yesterday, September 7, entitled: “BlackRock’s China Blunder”.
The financier has been outspoken in criticizing the American giant’s initiative in China: to launch various investment funds and financial products for Chinese consumers.
Soros wrote that BlackRock’s decision to pour billions of dollars into China is “a bad investment,” which is likely to cause its customers to lose money. With the initiative, the US giant will become the first non-Chinese company to manage a wholly owned business in the investment fund sector in China.
Soros spoke of a “tragic mistake”, which “will harm the national security interests of the United States and other democracies”.
BlackRock’s response was immediate, with the spokesperson telling CNBC today that its subsidiary in China launched its first fund in the country after raising 6.68 billion Chinese yuan, the equivalent of $ 1. , 03 billion, by more than 111,000 investors.
“The United States and China have a large and complex economic relationship,” the spokesperson said, in response to Soros’ comments.
“The total exchange of goods and services between the two countries – continued the spokesman – exceeded $ 600 billion in 2020. Through our investment activity, fund managers and other financial institutions based in the US will contribute to economic interconnection. between the two main economies of the world “.
In mid-August, BlackRock’s Investment Institute recommended investors increase their exposure to China by up to three times that in some cases.
Earlier this year, it was CEO Larry Fink himself, in a letter to shareholders, who described the China market as “a significant opportunity, which will help to achieve the long-term objectives of investors in China and in the world“.
On July 14, BlackRock announced that its AUM value rose to an all-time high of $ 9.49 trillion during the second quarter of the year, compared to $ 7.32 trillion in the same quarter of 2020.
BlackRock quotes are up more than 28% year to date. The stock is up slightly in today’s Wall Street session.