Bloomberg – China Investment Corp., the nation’s $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, may invest as much as $500 million in hedge funds including those run by Blackstone Group LP, said two people familiar with the matter.
CIC aims to allocate $6 billion to hedge funds by the end of 2009, company adviser Felix Chee said two days ago at the GAIM International hedge fund conference at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum. Chee, who is a special adviser to the chief investment officer of CIC, said he will initially run CIC’s hedge fund and proprietary trading effort.
The move adds to signs of improved confidence by CIC Chairman Lou Jiwei, who said in December that he didn’t “dare to invest in financial institutions” after losing money on investments in Blackstone and Morgan Stanley. CIC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley earlier this month by buying an additional $1.2 billion shares.
