(China Daily)Bohai Industrial Investment Fund, the naTion's first private equity firm, will make its debut investment today, a milestone for the nation's fledgling PE sector.

The private equity pioneer will acquire a minority stake for about 1.5 billion yuan in cash in Tianjin Pipe (Group) Corp, the country's largest maker of steel pipes for building oil pipelines, the fund said yesterday.

The two companies will sign the deal today in Tianjin, North China's largest port city, where both are located.

Tianjin Pipe estimates output of a million tons of steel pipes this year, accounting for 50 percent of the domestic market. The company was formerly backed by local government.

The pipe manufacturer said it will notch up 37 billion yuan in annual sales revenue and 1.6 billion yuan in net profit by the end of this year.

It posted net profit of 1.38 billion yuan for 2006, up 46 percent from the 947 million yuan in earnings the previous year. Its total assets were 21.14 billion yuan at the end of last year.

As China's first private equity fund, Bohai Industrial was approved on December 30 last year.

With 20 billion yuan in capital under management, the fund is 53 percent-controlled by Bank of China Ltd. Its other shareholders include BOC International (China) Ltd, China Life Insurance Co, the Postal Savings Bank of China, the National Council of Social Security Fund, China Development Bank and TEDA International Holding Co.