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China fund buys 10% stake in London's Heathrow airport
China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country's sovereign wealth fund, has bought a 10% stake in the firm that owns London's Heathrow airport.
The Heathrow company also has stakes in London's Stansted airport, Southampton in southern England, and Scotland's Glasgow and Aberdeen.
CIC was set up in 2007 to invest some of China's foreign exchange reserves.
The UK purchase comes after some other countries have raised concerns about selling key assets to Chinese firms.
Last month, US President Barack Obama blocked a wind farm deal involving Chinese firm Ralls Corp on national security grounds.
The US had also alleged that Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE are security risks and warned its firms against doing business with them.
Australia has previously blocked Huawei's plans to bid for work on its national broadband network.
Despite these issues, the UK has been growing its business ties with China.
This is CIC's second major investment in UK infrastructure. It bought 8.68% of the firm behind UK utility group Thames Water in January.
The fund will pay £450m ($726m) for the 10% stake in Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd.
Under the terms of the deal it will buy Spanish firm Ferrovial's 5.7% stake in FGP Topco Ltd, the holding company which owns Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd, for £257.4m.
CIC will get the remaining 4.3% stake from other shareholders of FGP Topco Ltd for £192.6m.
BBC News - China fund buys 10% stake in London's Heathrow airport
China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country's sovereign wealth fund, has bought a 10% stake in the firm that owns London's Heathrow airport.
The Heathrow company also has stakes in London's Stansted airport, Southampton in southern England, and Scotland's Glasgow and Aberdeen.
CIC was set up in 2007 to invest some of China's foreign exchange reserves.
The UK purchase comes after some other countries have raised concerns about selling key assets to Chinese firms.
Last month, US President Barack Obama blocked a wind farm deal involving Chinese firm Ralls Corp on national security grounds.
The US had also alleged that Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE are security risks and warned its firms against doing business with them.
Australia has previously blocked Huawei's plans to bid for work on its national broadband network.
Despite these issues, the UK has been growing its business ties with China.
This is CIC's second major investment in UK infrastructure. It bought 8.68% of the firm behind UK utility group Thames Water in January.
The fund will pay £450m ($726m) for the 10% stake in Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd.
Under the terms of the deal it will buy Spanish firm Ferrovial's 5.7% stake in FGP Topco Ltd, the holding company which owns Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd, for £257.4m.
CIC will get the remaining 4.3% stake from other shareholders of FGP Topco Ltd for £192.6m.
BBC News - China fund buys 10% stake in London's Heathrow airport
