Da Cheng wins Lipper China awards top group prize

BEIJING, March 14 (Reuters) - China's Da Cheng Fund Management Co took the top group prize at the Lipper China Fund Awards on Friday, winning the Best Mixed Asset Group award for the performance of its balanced funds over the last three years.

Lipper, a Reuters company which tracks the performance of more than 95,000 funds worldwide, presented 16 awards to mainland Chinese open-ended funds for their performance over periods ranging from one to five years.

Three balanced funds run by Da Cheng, based in the southern city of Shenzhen, produced a return of 392 to 466 percent between 2005 and 2007, Lipper said.

Beijing-based China Asset Management, which oversees around 250 billion yuan ($35.26 billion), won four individual awards, the highest number presented to a single fund house at this year's Lipper Fund Awards in the country.

Changsheng Fund Management Co, partly owned by Singapore's DBS Group Holdings (DBSM.SI), won three bond fund awards. GF Fund Management received awards for a third straight year.

China International Fund Management, China Merchant Fund Management, E Fund Management, Rongtong Fund Management, Galaxy Asset Management and Changsheng Fund Management won individual awards for a second straight year.

China International is JPMorgan's (JPM.N) China fund arm, while China Merchant Fund is Dutch financial group ING's (ING.AS) (ING.N) China asset management venture.

Shenzhen-headquartered Great Wall Fund Management Co received an award for the first time from Lipper.

China's 10-year-old mutual fund industry had about 3.2 trillion yuan in assets under management at the end of 2007, following explosive growth over the past two years as investors piled into the sector while the stock market boomed.

Lipper noted many Chinese mutual funds had struggled, however, as the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC tumbled after touching a record high on Oct. 16. Analysts blamed the downturn on fears of monetary tightening, slowing corporate earnings growth, a flood of equity supply and a slowing U.S. economy.

There were 59 mutual fund management companies and 368 mutual fund products in mainland China at the end of last year, according to China's Essence Securities. ($1=7.090 Yuan) (Reporting by Charlie Zhu; Editing by Edmund Klamann)