MSCI Inc. announced its half-year review of MSCI index constituents on 15th May, 2018. China First Capital Group Limited (“CFCG”; stock code: 1269.HK) has been selected as a constituent of both the MSCI Global Standard Indexes and the MSCI China All Shares Index, which will take place as of the close of May 31, 2018, reflecting CFCG’s development following its selection as a constituent of the MSCI China Small Cap Index in June 2016.
As CFCG extends its business to education operation, it is aspired to build a platform for education operation, investment and financing in the education sector, powered by “Education Operation and Financial Services” dual-pronged strategy. Since its inclusion in the MSCI China Small Cap Index in June 2016, CFCG has ratcheted up the pace of its strategic business development in the education sector, completing various local and overseas educational acquisition projects. CFCG was selected as a constituent of the FTSE Asia Pacific ex Japan Index Series in March 2017, and the Hang Seng Composite Index Series and Hang Seng Stock Connect Hong Kong Index Series in March 2018. This upgrade from the MSCI China Small Cap Index (capturing the small cap segment of the Chinese market) to constituent on the MSCI Global Standard Indexes and MSCI China All Shares Index (capturing large and mid-cap representation across China A‐shares, B‐shares, H‐shares, Red‐chips, P‐chips and foreign listings) fully reflects the acknowledgement, recognition and trust from global and domestic investors while bolstering their confidence in CFCG’s promising future prospects.
The MSCI Indexes include a series of stock price indexes compiled by MSCI Inc., covering different industries, nations and regions, and are widely used by many fund managers, brokers and dealers, stock exchanges, investment consultants, academic scholars and finance media. Moreover, many actively and passively managed funds follow the MSCI Indexes when selecting stocks. During the latest half-year review, MSCI Inc. announced that China A shares will be added to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and the MSCI ACWI Index starting from June 2018. A total of 234 China A-shares will enter its index system at a 2.5% partial Inclusion Factor, which will be further increased to 5% by MSCI in August 2018. The positive developments surrounding Stock Connect two-way investment scheme between Hong Kong and the mainland, as well as the fact that Chinese stock exchanges relaxed its restrictions on pre-approval of global financial products involving A-shares, will significantly foster greater access to the Chinese A-shares market.
According to MSCI Inc., international investors have broadly come to realise that Chinese A-share market accessibility has been making significant progress in recent years. Therefore, the timing is right for the inclusion of Chinese A-shares on the MSCI. Following this higher accessibility of the Chinese A-share market, in line with international standards, the consistently uninterrupted access of Stock Connect between Hong Kong and Shanghai, as well as between Hong Kong and Shenzhen have already won the approval of the markets. While international institutional investors accumulate more market experience, MSCI Inc. will further increase the weight of Chinese A-shares on the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. MSCI Inc. hopes that China will continue to speed up its current policies with the initiatives of enhancing accessibility of the Chinese A-share market.
CFCG states that the MSCI serves as a bellwether for global capital markets. The inclusion of Chinese A-shares in the MSCI index system will facilitate capital allocation from an international perspective as participation from the overseas institutional investors continues to increase. Amidst today’s trend of upgraded consumption, the penetration of the private education sector has been enhanced with the support of policies, capital investment, economic circumstances and new techniques. The implementation of the new “Private Education Promotion Law” now provides legal protection for the private education sector and has led to faster education asset securitization. Taking advantage of this positive developing trend, CFCG is moving forward with capital investments to continue expanding and integrating its global educational resources. Through its sophisticated business operations in different education segments, CFCG is aspired to integrate education operations and financial services to provide more diversified services and products while elevating the influence of CFCG’s brand equity across the globe.
