China's CIC fund sells part of stake in Canada's Teck Resources

(Reuters) - A unit of Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp (CIC), the biggest holder of Teck Resources Ltd's class B shares, has sold around 41.5 percent of its stake in the Canadian miner in a private transaction, Teck said on Tuesday.

CIC's Fullbloom Investment Corp sold 42 million class B shares of Teck, the company said in a statement, equal to 7.36 percent of Teck's subordinate voting B shares and 7.26 percent of all outstanding Teck stock. It bought the stake in July 2009.

Teck's B shares were down 7.6 percent at C$29.18 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The buyer of the stake was not identified and the sale price of the shares was not disclosed. Teck did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Teck, Canada's biggest diversified miner of commodities including copper, coal and gold, has two sets of shares: more liquid "B" shares that carry lower voting rights, and illiquid "A" shares with higher voting rights.

CIC advised the company the sale was done in the "ordinary course of its portfolio adjustment," Teck said. CIC intends to hold the balance of its Class B Teck shares as a long-term financial investor, Teck said.

Following the transaction, CIC would indirectly hold 59.3 million B subordinate voting shares, or 10.4 per cent of the outstanding B shares, with a voting interest of approximately 4.4 percent in Teck.

(Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)