China Investment Corporation
The China Investment Corporation (CIC)—China’s Sovereign Wealth Fund — was launched in September 2007. It is the fifth largest Sovereign Wealth Fund in the world. The CIC was funded by a bond sale. The fund was officially created in September 2007 but it had already made investments starting with its first deal, Blackstone Group, in May 2007. It was created after a long struggle with many members of the Chinese political leadership (Please see report-"The Creation of the China Investment Corporation"). The CIC reports to the State Council.
Investment Strategy
Their overseas investment will focus on four different areas: Global equities, Asia ex-Japan equities, emerging market equities and Europe/Australasia/Asia equities. It is expected that the CIC will have between $50 billion to $60 billion in invest in overseas equities. The CIC is currently undergoing a search for external fund managers to manage between $15 and $20 billion. It is also expected that another $15 to $20 billion will be used to team up with global investment funds to create new funds.
The CIC have said that they will not invest in oil, airline, or telecommunications companies. It appears that the CIC will not invest in the property sector but there has been no official comment from the CIC on this.