A nondescript serviced office on the 24th floor of an anonymous block in Singapore might seem a curiously low-key place to base an affiliate of a giant Chinese mining conglomerate.
But in the case of Yuxiao Fund, a Singapore-domiciled Chinese company which tried to acquire control of military-use mineral assets in Australia, it was entirely deliberate.
Instead of pursuing its interest in Northern Minerals, an Australian rare earths company, from their headquarters in China, the owners of mining conglomerate Jinan Yuxiao Group chose to set up a low-profile Singaporean entity.