Aim’s Red Army on the run

Ever since China opened for business in the early 1990s, western investors have been clambering for a piece of the action. But as one of the first Wall Street bankers to take on China - profiled in Tim Clissold's memoir, 'Mr China' - discovered the hard way, the People's Republic doesn't play by the usual rules. His firm lost the best part of $400m (£235m) during its first few years of investing directly in factories all over China, despite having a small team on the ground completing due diligence and actively monitoring each investment.