Dilemmas of Diversification: Regional Economic Development and Business-Industrial Clusters in China and Kazakhstan

Both China and Kazakhstan have established sovereign wealth funds and financial state holding companies, where diversified asset management can move beyond Western financial markets to take multiple stakes in other emerging market businesses, including international private equity, commodities, and real estate. Faced with uncertain returns in the West, China and Kazakhstan are increasingly poised to evolve separate yet mutually cooperative investment projects to further diversify their own state portfolios away from Western capital markets. For instance, China’s financial conglomerate CITIC (China International Trust and Investment Corporation) acquired shares of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna. As similar projects emerge in the future, the spillover of knowledge and information will accompany asset-sharing