Money manager dumps Vanke as fight for control heats up

As one of the world's biggest investors in developing countries, Aberdeen Asset Management Plc is no stranger to market drama. But, even this hardened money manager can't stomach the frenetic battle for control at China's biggest developer.

The $403 billion investment firm sold all its Shenzhen-listed shares of China Vanke Co after a six-month trading halt was lifted on July 4, said Frank Tian, who helps manage Aberdeen funds from the firm's Hong Kong office. He cited uncertainty over the developer's future amid a protracted ownership struggle involving at least three strategic shareholders.

Aberdeen's decision to sell is hardly unique as investors struggle to make sense of China's most high-profile corporate battle, a tangled web of competing interests, inscrutable motives and no clear endgame. Investment managers and advisers have cut their position in Vanke's Shenzhen-traded stock to 7.2 percent of publicly reported holdings from 19 percent in December, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, even as corporate investors including Evergrande Group built up stakes.