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The multi-billion-dollar private equity firm Zurich Fund Management Co., Ltd. ("Zurich Fund") has become a dishonest debtor.

On August 27, The Paper noticed that according to information from the China Enforcement Information Disclosure Network, Zurich Fund was identified as a dishonest debtor by the Licheng District People's Court of Jinan City due to violation of the property reporting system. The company and its legal representative Zhu Zhenzhen were restricted from high consumption, and the execution case number was (2024) Lu 0112 Execution No. 4497.

In response, Zurich Fund’s official account released a statement on August 27, saying that the case involved was an ordinary commercial contract dispute and had no impact on the normal operation of private equity fund products. In view of the different understandings of the contract terms between the applicant Mingshui Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee and the applicant, the case is currently in the process of execution and settlement, and will be lifted and closed in the near future.

"Zurich Fund rejects all forms of dishonest behavior, which not only harms the rights and interests of fund investors, but also seriously violates the core values ​​​​we have always adhered to and the professional ethics of the management." Zurich Fund said that it will take all necessary measures to do everything possible to maintain the integrity of private equity fund managers worth tens of billions of dollars.

According to data from the Asset Management Association of China, Zurich Fund is a private equity and venture capital fund manager established in 2018, with a management scale of more than 10 billion yuan. Zurich Fund has 10 full-time employees, but only two of them have obtained fund practitioner qualifications. Currently, Zurich Fund has three private equity fund products that are still operating normally.

Official data shows that Zurich Fund (also known as "Zurich Fund") is a leading global investment company that manages a variety of alternative asset classes, including private equity, capital markets and credit, with strategic partners who manage hedge funds. Zurich Fund AG was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Switzerland. The funds under its management come from sovereign funds, private banks and insurance institutions. Zurich Fund has been committed to investing in and supporting leading companies in the global TMT, consumer, automotive and financial industries. The investment stages include domestic and overseas IPOs, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and backdoor listings. Investment cases include: Apple, Broadcom, Alibaba and Nongfu Spring.

Before taking charge of the Zurich Fund, Zhu Zhenzhen served as vice president of Blackstone Group (Singapore) Ltd. and managing director of KKR Asia Ltd.

On the other hand, the applicant Mingshui Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee is the agency responsible for managing the Mingshui Economic and Technological Development Zone. According to official website data, the Mingshui Economic and Technological Development Zone has cultivated and formed four major leading industries: transportation equipment, machinery manufacturing, fine chemicals, and food and beverages. Emerging industries such as biomedicine, new materials, and information technology have also begun to take shape.

In 2023, Zurich Fund and Zurich Ruiying (Jinan) Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd. (the two are referred to as "the executed parties") had a dispute over an intermediary contract with the Mingshui Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee, and several court hearings followed. The legal documents that have come into effect show that the main obligations of the executed parties include immediately returning the Mingshui Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee's service fee of 2.59 million yuan and interest; paying the first-instance case acceptance fee of 28,532 yuan and property preservation fees of 5,000 yuan; the two executed parties bear joint and several liability for the above debts, etc.

According to the consumption restriction order issued on August 21, the People's Court of Licheng District, Jinan City, filed the case for execution on April 17. Because Zurich Fund failed to perform the payment obligations determined by the effective legal documents within the period specified in the execution notice, the People's Court of Licheng District, Jinan City, in accordance with Article 266 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and Article 1 and Article 3 of the Several Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Restricting High Consumption and Related Consumption of Executors, took consumption restriction measures against Zurich Fund, restricting Zurich Fund and its legal representative Zhu Zhenzhen from engaging in high consumption and consumption that is not necessary for life and work.

In addition, according to the same execution case number as the above-mentioned dispute, the equity worth 3.308 million yuan held by Zurich Fund was also frozen simultaneously.