International fund management participation in mainland China has begun in earnest with the announcement of the tendering process for China Investment Corporation (CIC) assets. According to the announcement, the sovereign wealth fund is looking to hire two or three international managers for each of four mandates: global equities, Asia ex-Japan equities, emerging market equities and Europe/Australasia/Asia equities (EAFE). This promises to be one of the largest international tendering processes with hopeful participants eligible if they meet some general criteria that should be satisfied by most international managers of repute.

There have been many other government funds over the years in Asia that have attracted international interest, but none on the scale being presented by the CIC. Central banks across the region have long been engaging the services of global fund managers, largely to manage accumulated reserves in a variety of bond mandates. Some central banks have in more recent times ventured into equities and the sovereign wealth funds in the region have been equity market investors for longer - most noticeably the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. However, none have created the feeding frenzy triggered by the CIC announcement.