China reveals vast U.S. holdings - Tuesday, February 09, 2010

WASHINGTON POST – Feb. 9, 2010

In SEC filing, China reveals vast U.S. holdings

By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 9, 2010; A13

China's sovereign wealth fund has lifted the veil on its U.S. securities holdings, revealing more than $9.6 billion of holdings in about 60 U.S. companies.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday, China Investment Corp. said it had spread its investments among a wide variety of index funds and blue-chip companies such as Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Visa, Pfizer and Apple.

It also disclosed a $713.8 million position in Wall Street investment firm BlackRock and a $498 million position in two types of shares in the Brazilian metals giant Vale.

When the Chinese sovereign wealth fund was created more than two years ago, many analysts feared that the government might use it to devour stakes in strategic sectors such as natural resources and steel needed to feed China's fast-growing economy. But CIC, which has $300 billion in assets worldwide, appears to be mostly taking modest positions without seeking management control.

The biggest investments listed were CIC's well-known $1.7 billion stake in Morgan Stanley, which has lost value since CIC invested in 2007, and its $3.5 billion stake in Vancouver-based mining company Teck Resources, reflecting a sharp increase in value over the past several months.

The Chinese sovereign wealth fund also disclosed more than $1.5 billion of investments in 14 U.S.-based index funds covering emerging markets, the Russell 2000, global materials, gold, health care, financial services and energy.

Not included in the list is CIC's pending $1.5 billion acquisition of a 20 percent stake in Arlington-based AES, an independent electric power company.

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China reveals vast U.S. holdings - Tuesday, February 09, 2010