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China wealth fund buys nearly 9% of Thames Water | China wealth fund buys nearly 9% of Thames Water |
(40 minutes later) | |
China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country's sovereign wealth fund, has bought 8.68% of the company behind UK utility group Thames Water. | |
It marks the fund's first acquisition in the UK, and follows a visit to China this week by Chancellor George Osborne. | |
Thames Water is owned by Kemble Water, a consortium of investors led by Australian bank Macquarie. | |
CIC was set up in 2007 to invest some of China's huge $3.18tn (£2tn) in foreign exchange reserves. | |
In a one-sentence statement on its website, CIC said it bought the stake through a wholly-owned subsidiary. No purchase price was disclosed. | |
Thames Water, acquired by Kemble in 2006, is the UK's largest water and sewerage company, serving about 14 million customers. | |
CIC chairman Lou Jiwei had said recently that his company was interested in investing in European and US infrastructure. | |
Mr Osborne met China's Vice-Premier Wang Qishan and the heads of CIC and the ICBC bank on Tuesday. | Mr Osborne met China's Vice-Premier Wang Qishan and the heads of CIC and the ICBC bank on Tuesday. |
The chancellor also announced that Britain had agreed to work with Hong Kong to develop the City of London as a major offshore centre of trade in China's currency, the yuan. | |
In December, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, another huge sovereign wealth fund, bought 9.9% of Kemble for an undisclosed price. |