Four years ago Anthony Bolton, the renowned British investor, ended his attempt to become as successful in Chinese equities as he had been picking stocks in the UK (Harry Wilson writes). His return from retirement in 2010 to establish and run the Fidelity China Special Situations fund gathered huge interest at the time and investors stumped up more than £400 million to back the venture.
The early signs were good and it seemed that his investment skills might be as applicable in Shanghai and Hong Kong as they had been in London. A year later, the picture looked rather different. The fund became mired in a series of local corporate accounting scandals, with Mr Bolton bailing out in 2014, decrying the Chinese as “great liars”