The Shanghai municipal government set up a new investment arm over the weekend to help restructure money-losing state-owned assets and raise investment for local infrastructure projects.

"The event is one of the important measures to speed up the strategic restructuring of state-owned assets and the reform of state-owed enterprises in Shanghai," said Mayor Han Zheng at the company's opening ceremony on Saturday.

Backed by a 3-billion-yuan (US$361 million) credit line from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Shanghai Shengrong Investment Co Ltd will take over the task of managing state-owned assets, selling off bad loans and other assets, bringing money-losing enterprises into the black by cutting costs and selling poorly performing departments and subsidiaries and through strategic mergers and acquisitions.

The company is also charged with raising capital for infrastructure projects, suggesting the government will reduce its role in funding construction schemes by opening them up to more private investment.

The move also shows the local government's commitment to implementing messages delivered at a recent session of the Communist Party, said Han.

During the Third Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, which concluded in Beijing on October 14, the Party pledged to push forward development of the country's market-orientated economy. To do so, it said that restructuring state-owned assets must be made a top priority.

Shi Derong, Shengrong's president, said during the opening ceremony that the company will learn from its foreign counterparts how best to use mergers and acquisitions to shore up state-owned assets.

During the ceremony, Shengrong signed a deal with Morgan Stanley to set up a joint-venture asset management firm.

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