Monday, February 8, 2010

China Sovereign Fund Holds US Stocks Worth $9.6b


February 9, 2010

China sovereign fund holds US stocks worth $9.6b

BEIJING China’s sovereign wealth fund said it held shares worth a total of $9.6 billion in dozens of US-listed companies at the end of 2009, according to a filing with the US securities regulator.

In a rare disclosure of its investment portfolio, the China Investment Corp (CIC) said its holdings included blue-chip US firms such as Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Coca-Cola as well as Canadian resources firm Teck Resources.

Its stake in Morgan Stanley was valued at $1.7 billion and its Teck shares were valued at 3.5 billion, according to the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission dated on Friday.

The fund’s direct equity holdings in US-listed firms also included shares in steel giant ArcelorMittal, pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Merck and telecommunications company Motorola and other industry sector leaders.

The sovereign wealth fund, which has about $300 billion under management at present, is estimated to have an overseas investment portfolio of 110 billion dollars, according to Z-Ben Advisors, a Shanghai-based fund research firm.

“A more careful reading of the report’s details shows remarkably little engagement with US companies and suggests that CIC’s real exposure to the US is being created through third-party mandates and other structures,” it said.

Agence France-Presse