Helen Deng

    A VENTURE capital/private equity (VC/PE) center will be established at the Shenzhen Hi-Tech Industrial Park to help high-tech companies obtain finance, a senior government official said Thursday.

    Qiu Xuan, deputy director of the Science, Industry, Trade and Information Technology Commission of Shenzhen, told an international forum Thursday that the VC/PE building would attract 150 venture capitalists with a total capital of 100 billion yuan (US$16 billion).

    To help high-tech companies obtain much-needed capital, the city government would also encourage commercial banks to open high-tech branches similar to Silicon Valley Bank, and encourage leading high-tech companies to set up small-loan firms, said Qiu.

    She was addressing the International Forum on Constructing World-Class Industrial Parks. More than 200 people attended, including senior government officials from China and abroad and representatives of 20 State-level high-tech parks, to discuss ways of financing high-tech companies. The forum was organized by the Service Center of Shenzhen Hi-Tech Industrial Park and Shenzhen International Science and Technology Business Platform.

    Obtaining finance was a challenge for small and medium-sized enterprises worldwide. This year had been particularly difficult for Chinese companies, with the Central Government tightening liquidity to curb inflation.

    A diversified financing channel had been helping small and medium-sized enterprises at Chinese high-tech parks through the difficulties, said Cao Jianlin, vice minister of science and technology.

    By the end of last year, more than 75 percent of the companies listed on the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Board were high-tech companies, Xiu Xiaoping, deputy director general at Torch High Technology Industry Development Center under the Ministry of Science and Technology, told the forum.