China’s new financial captain faces tough mission

Attentive Chinese investors realised something unusual was happening on February 14. Dozens of listed firms simultaneously dispatched a circular announcing they had a new shareholder: Central Huijin. The domestic unit of China’s sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp, was about to take control of several state firms with sprawling interests in the country’s onshore stock market. The move creates a super-sized state-owned enterprise (SOE) with the capacity to confront China’s most complex financial challenges.