The China Investment Corporation (CIC) chairman Lou Jiwei said yesterday the company needed a few months to prepare for "major" investments and would eventually play a "stabilizing role" as the global economy weathers the fallout of the US subprime crisis.

 

The $200 billion sovereign wealth fund triggered global concerns that it may lead to market fluctuations even before it was formally launched on September 29.

 

But Lou said no sovereign wealth funds had so far played any destabilizing role in any market.

 

"We have not seen such sovereign wealth funds take advantage of the policy loopholes of a country or target a country's foreign exchange policy to gain," he said at the Euromoney China Conference in Beijing.

 

Those funds often have long-term investment strategies, which will help stabilize the market, he added.

 

"I have noticed that some of those funds have injected capital into financial institutions that suffer from the subprime crisis," Lou said. "They are stabilizing the market. CIC will also do the same thing."

 

Lou said the goal of the CIC was to "seek reasonable long-term returns with acceptable risks" and to help improve the corporate governance of companies in which it has a stake.

 

CIC has incorporated the former Central Huijin, a State investment arm.

 

Lou also said the fund was planning to open branches in international financial centers.

 

(China Daily November 30, 2007)