BEIJING/SYDNEY Bain Capital and Chinese industrial real estate developer and operator DNE Group said on Tuesday they formed a joint venture with a $250 million equity commitment, as the U.S. firm looks for investment opportunities in manufacturing park assets in China.

The initial batch of assets the joint venture will invest in are located in China's eastern industrial hub, the Yangtze River Delta area, the companies said in a joint statement, which did not provide a breakdown of the funding from each partner.

DNE will manage projects for the joint venture while Bain Capital acts as the strategic investor, according to the statement.

Beijing has previously signalled it was keen to upgrade its vast manufacturing sector and encouraged investment in advanced manufacturing areas such as chipmaking, data centres, robotics and life sciences, amid an unstable post-pandemic economic recovery and growing geopolitical tensions.

DNE provides smart manufacturing facilities that serve producers of products such as automobile parts and integrated circuits-related equipment, according to its website.

It also develops and operates real estate sites related to sectors such as logistics, cold chains and life sciences, and operates office buildings.

The Shanghai-based company, which was created after the merger in 2021 of Warburg Pincus-backed D&J China and New Ease China, has raised funds from strategic investors such as Sequoia Capital and Swiss private equity firm Partners Group.

(Reporting by Roxanne Liu in Beijing and Scott Murdoch in Sydney; Editing by Jamie Freed)