China to launch state investment company end-September: report

SHANGHAI (AFP) — China's long-awaited state investment company, which is set to manage part of its massive foreign exchange reserves, will be formally launched on September 28, state press said Wednesday.

Lou Jiwei, a former vice finance minister, will be chairman of the new company while Gao Xiqing, vice chairman of the social security fund, will be appointed as the general manager, China Business News reported.

China's forex reserves, the world's largest, surpassed 1.33 trillion dollars at the end of June, with about 70 percent generally believed to be held in US dollar denominated paper, principally US government bonds.

The new agency, tasked with diversifying and maximising returns on part of the country's huge forex reserves, already invested three billion dollars of foreign exchange reserves in US private equity group Blackstone in May despite not yet being formally launched.