Sovereign fund plans London arm

China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country's sovereign wealth fund, has begun talks on setting up its first international office in London, a leading investment agency has revealed.

The fund, which has $200 billion at its disposal, is known to have been looking for a base outside China for some time, and has been recently very active in the UK capital.

CIC was recently part of a consortium which carried out the $1.3-billion bail-out of Canary Wharf, the London office complex.