CIC said to make $10b in profit last year

China Investment Corp (CIC), China’s US$200 billion sovereign wealth fund, saw a profit of about US$10 billion last year, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed source. CIC was able to make profits by avoiding new investments in Western banks. About half of the fund’s money is in Central Huijin, which holds government stakes in nine banks and brokerages. The other half is invested overseas, with about US$90 billion in cash, and the rest tied in equity stakes in firms such as Blackstone Group and Morgan Stanley. These investments have combined to a profit of "slightly less than 5%," the source told the newswire service. CIC has lost more than half of its initial US$8 billion investment in Blackstone and Morgan Stanley since September 2007.