Sovereign wealth fund CIC boasts 10.6% return in 2012

Sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp (CIC) boasted a 10.6 percent return on its global investment portfolio in 2012 according to the company's annual report.
The rise is in marked contrast to the previous year when the fund suffered a 4.3 percent loss, the lowest return since it was launched in 2007.
By the end of 2012, the company's total assets stood at USD 575.2 billion, compared to USD 482.2 billion by the close of 2011, the report which was put online today stated.
The figure brings the company's accumulative annualised rate of return since its establishment to five percent.

The fund was set up six years ago with USD 200 billion to make better use of China's colossal foreign exchange reserves which now amount to USD 3.4 trillion.
After initially posting 11.7 percent rises in 2009 and 2010, the fund fared poorly in 2011, hit by difficulties in the global economy and the worsening eurozone debt crisis.

In a statement released with the annual report, Ding Xuedong, CEO and chairman of CIC, said intense market research and effective risk management helped the fund see a good return by the end of the year.
"In 2012, global financial markets remained in thrall to continued high risks, low yields and high volatility, hallmarks of the post-crisis era," he said.

"Thanks to intensified market research and timely adjustment to optimise our portfolio mix, we promptly seized the window of opportunity on the back of a market turnaround in the second half of the year."
Former chairman and CEO Lou Jiwei said the young fund had "come a long way" in difficult global circumstances.
"As China's young sovereign wealth fund, we set sail in turbulent times and navigated uncharted waters with courage and competence," he said in a statement released with the annual report.
CIC has increasingly invested in the stock markets. By the end of 2012, shares in listed companies accounted for 32 percent of its overseas portfolio compared to 25 percent the year before.

Company spokeswoman Liu Fangyu told Xinhua news agency the company also secured a state cash injection of $19 billion in 2012 in addition to $30 billion added in 2011.
Other sectors the fund have recently invested in included buying up a 10 percent stake in Britain's Heathrow Airport and 5.3 percent of the Moscow stock exchange.