Chinese fund major investor in Visa IPO

China's sovereign wealth fund was among the major investors in Visa Inc.'s $19.1-billion US initial public offering this month, the financial magazine Caijing reported Tuesday.

China Investment Corp., or CIC, invested more than $100 million US as a strategic investor in the share offering, Caijing said, citing unnamed sources.

A China Investment Corp. representative refused comment on the report.

Major insurer China Life Insurance says it took a $300-million US stake in the Visa's IPO, the biggest in U.S. history.

That investment showed a gain of about $108 million USthanks to a 36 per cent rise in Visa's share price since it debuted in New York on March 19.

CIC recently paid $5 billion US for what will become, by 2010, a 9.9 per cent stake in investment bank Morgan Stanley. In May 2007, it agreed to pay $3 billion US for a 10 per cent stake in U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group LP.