NewsRescue
According to the Financial Times, which cited people with direct knowledge of the fund’s operations, US investment bank Goldman Sachs established a fund with Chinese state money to acquire a number of American and British companies, including one providing cybersecurity services to the UK government.
Despite rising tensions between Beijing and Washington, Goldman has signed seven agreements with money from a $2.5 billion private equity “partnership fund” established by the investment bank with China Investment Corporation (CIC) in 2017, according to the site.
CIC was founded in 2007 to invest Chinese government cash, and by the end of 2021, it had $1.35 trillion in assets. According to its website, alternative assets such as private equity account for approximately half of the CIC’s global portfolio.
During Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing, the China-US Industrial Cooperation Partnership Fund was established to address Washington’s worries about a trade imbalance between the US and China by investing Chinese government funds in American businesses.
According to the Financial Times, the deals covered a wide range of industries, including global supply chain tracking, cloud computing, drug testing, artificial intelligence manufacturing systems, drones, and electric vehicle batteries.
In 2021, Goldman Sachs will use the CIC fund to acquire LRQA, the inspections and cybersecurity business of Lloyd’s Register, the UK’s marine classifications group. LRQA specializes in inspection and certification services and works in industries such as aerospace, defense, energy, and healthcare.
Nettitude, a cybersecurity firm specialized in ethical hacking, is an authorised service provider for the UK government and works to “strengthen government and defense organizations across the world,” according to the company’s website.
“China represents 40% of the global certification market, and we are currently under-represented there, which is something we are seeking to address in part with assistance from the [Goldman-CIC] fund,” said an LRQA representative, according to the Financial Times.