Credit Suisse China venture to launch $3 bln QDII fund

SHANGHAI, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse's (CSGN.VX) China asset management venture said on Friday it will launch a fund for sale on Jan. 3 to raise up to 22 billion yuan ($2.99 billion) for investment in overseas financial markets.

ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management Co will be the fifth Chinese fund house to launch such a fund under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor scheme, aimed at giving domestic residents more investment opportunities and to promote a better balance in China's international payments.

The targeted size of the fund, which will focus on stocks of companies that benefit from China's 10 percent a year economic growth, is about a $1 billion less than the $4 billion raised by each of the existing four QDII funds this year.

ICBC Credit Suisse said in a statement that the fund sale would end on Feb 1, but it did not give a reason for the smaller targeted size.

Chinese fund management firms are allowed to raise a maximum of $4 billion for each of their QDII funds through initial public offers. The quota can be expanded to $5 billion through additional offers, industry officials have said.

The existing QDII funds launched earlier this year by four Chinese fund management companies have been snapped up by domestic investors, who sought to diversify their portfolios. But the funds have slipped below their par value due to turmoil in global markets caused by the U.S. subprime mortgage meltdown.

Earlier this week, Societe General's (SOGN.PA) China fund business said it had won approval to launch a QDII fund to mainly invest in overseas-listed China-related equities.

So far, a total of 11 domestic fund houses have obtained QDII licences.

(Reporting by Charlie Zhu; Editing by Nick Macfie)