The Information Office of the Shandong Provincial Government convenes a news conference on July 18 to give their interpretation on the Opinions on Further Promoting the Investment of New and Old Growth Drivers Conversion Fund. [Photo/iqilu.com]

The Information Office of the Shandong Provincial Government gave their interpretation on the Opinions on Further Promoting the Investment of New and Old Growth Drivers Conversion Funds at a news conference on July 18.

The opinions put forward 20 policies and measures from four aspects: reforming the fund management system, lowering the fund establishment threshold, improving the fund use efficiency, and optimizing the fund development environment.

According to Li Feng, deputy director of the Shandong Provincial Finance Department, the fund establishment and operation have made positive progress since last year.

By the end of June this year, the province had established 255 government investment funds, with 390.6 billion yuan ($56.7 billion) pledged and 76.4 billion yuan paid in. The funds had invested a total of 73.8 billion yuan in 1,076 projects, which generated 307.2 billion yuan of social investment.

To date, 48 funds for new and old growth drivers conversion have been approved at the provincial level, covering the province's top ten industries. The subscription amount reached 274.5 billion yuan.

Among them, 16 funds have completed industrial and commercial registration, with a total subscription amount of 101.5 billion yuan. The investment scale has been continuously expanded and the investment benefits have gradually emerged.

The government approval and policy review for fund establishment will be cancelled. The decision on cooperation institutions and fund establishment will be made independently by new kinetic energy fund companies.

The provincial financial contribution of the guidance fund will be taken as the registered capital of the companies, which will be used to set up special funds for new and old growth drivers conversion.

The threshold for fund establishment will be lowered to enhance the attractiveness and competitiveness of the funds.

The fund structure shall be optimized from the three-level structure of "guidance fund – parent fund – sub-fund" to the two-level structure of "guidance fund – sub-fund."

In addition, the threshold for fund declaration will be lowered by adjusting the scale of infrastructure, industry, and venture capital funds to not less than 3 billion yuan, 1 billion yuan, and 200 million yuan respectively.

The paid-in registered capital of the fund management institution will be adjusted from no less than 20 million yuan to no less than 10 million yuan.

Restrictions on fund return investment will be relaxed. The proportion of funds invested in Shandong will be adjusted from no less than 60 percent or 70 percent of the fund size to no less than 1.5 times of the guidance fund.

The proportion of funds invested by the guidance fund will be increased. The proportion of industrial funds funded by the guidance fund will be adjusted from 20 percent to less than 25 percent in general.

For funds in the fields of modern high-efficiency agriculture and the modern marine industry, as well as various venture capital funds, the guidance fund contribution ratio is allowed to reach 30 percent. The proportion of joint contribution by provincial, municipal, and county governments will be relaxed to 50 percent.