SHANGHAI: E Fund Management Co, China's fifth-largest mutual fund company by assets, is launching a fund under the country's qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) scheme next Monday.

The fund, the first under the QDII umbrella after a 17-month suspension in China, will target companies listed in Asian stock exchanges and equities of Asian firms listed on bourses outside the region. It will be publicly sold from Dec 7 this year to Jan 15 next year, E Fund said on its website yesterday.

The Guangzhou-based fund management firm received the approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to launch its QDII fund on Nov 12, after the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) approved quotas of $1 billion to E Fund and $500 million to China Merchants Fund under the resumed QDII scheme in late October.