China fund mulls buying stake in Daimler: report

The potential purchase comes as China Investment Corp. (CIC), which had more than USD 480 billion from the wealth fund under management at the end of 2011, seeks bargains in Europe's weak economy, said the website at the weekend, quoting unnamed sources.

But a source with knowledge of the matter dismissed the report, saying it was "not true". Chinese media reported nearly a year ago that Daimler had been in contact with CIC regarding a possible deal.

The Financial Times newspaper valued a purchase of four to 10 per cent of Daimler at 1.8 billion to 4.5 billion euros.

A spokeswoman for CIC, declining to be named, said: "Our consistent policy is that we do not comment on any particular project."

Daimler, which produces luxury Mercedes-Benz cars as well as trucks, plans to sell 300,000 cars in China in 2015, about two-thirds of which will be from local production, the company said last month.

The German firm also refused to be drawn on the report, with a spokeswoman saying they "generally do not comment on media speculation."

"New investors are always welcome because a balanced shareholder structure is in our interests," the spokeswoman told AFP.

The speculation boosted Daimler on the DAX market of leading German stocks, with shares gaining 1.36 per cent.

In October last year, CIC bought a 10 per cent stake in the company that controls London's Heathrow airport, according to Spanish construction group Ferrovial, one of the vendors.

Last January CIC bought a stake in British utility company Thames Water.

CIC was established in 2007 to invest some of China's massive foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest at USD 3.3 trillion at the end of September last year.

China's sovereign wealth fund suffered a 4.3 per cent loss on its overseas investments in 2011 due to the weak global economy. It was the first loss since 2008, when CIC was hit by the global financial crisis.

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