A $8 billion investment is planned by Chinese pension fund into equities

It was discovered that the Chinese national pension fund, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), was seeking cabinet approval for investing into foreign private equity funds this year.

The NSSF is working on the proposal with China's finance ministry and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, revealed the sources familiar with the matter. It is also known that the finance ministry has supported the plan. Final approval is expected in the second half of this year, after which the NSSF plans to complete its first foreign private equity deal before the end of 2009.

It is planned that the total investment into both domestic and global private equity funds will note exceed 10 percent of NSSF’s roughly $80 billion assets, or about $8 billion.

It should also be noted that the fund is already allowed to invest in domestic yuan-denominated private equity funds and investing in overseas private equity funds, including growth capital, real estate and buyout funds, are expected to further diversify the NSSF's holdings concentrated in domestic assets as well as overseas stocks and bonds.