For sale: a large stake in an asset manager controlling just over one-10th of what is probably the fastest-growing market in the world. The catch: it could be expensive. And foreigners are unlikely to get much of a look-in.

Yesterday's slight slip in the shares of Citic Securities, sole owner of China Asset Management, came after the regulator, the CSRC, reminded it of its obligation to sell down its holding. No single shareholder is allowed to own more than 49 per cent of a Chinese fund house; Citic tripped the threshold two years ago when it merged CAM into its own business, Citic Funds.

That Citic has been dragging its feet is no great surprise. Assets under management across the industry grew almost 40 per cent to Rmb2,680bn ($393bn) last year, according to Shanghai-based fund consultancy Z-Ben Advisors; CAM finished 2009 with a 4 percentage point lead in market share over the runner-up, E-Fund. And with perhaps five minority stakes in Chinese asset managers on the table in the first half of 2010, this is hardly an ideal market to be selling into.