China's sovereign wealth fund was set up in 2007 to much fanfare. It was supposed to be a vehicle that helped invest the country's massive pile of foreign-exchange reserves abroad through big-ticket deals.
For about a decade, it did just that. At the height of the financial crisis, China Investment Corp sank $US5.6 billion ($7.9 billion) into Morgan Stanley to steady the struggling bank, a stake that eventually rose to 10 per cent. The fund tried to emulate Singapore's GIC, which was known for its ambitious investments overseas.
