(January 21, 2014) — The CIO of the China Investment Corporation (CIC) is following in the steps of his predecessor to become vice chairman of the country’s largest asset pool.
Li Keping is to take over the role when Gao Xiqing the fund’s current vice chairman and president retires this year, Bloomberg has reported, citing sources close to the CIC.
This move would be the second time Li has followed Gao into a role. In 2011, he took over the CIO role that Gao had held since inception in 2007.
Before joining the CIC, Li had been vice-chairman of China’s smaller asset pool, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF)—and CIO since 2001.
When Li joined CIC, Ashby Monk at the University of Oxford’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Project said in a blog that the move was a good one.
“Much of his time at the NSSF was spent building the fund from the ground up (his appointment began only a year after the fund was established in 2000),” Monk said. “So, Li is rightly seen as the key architect of the NSSF’s increasingly sophisticated investment strategy. It’s clear (at least to me) that the CIC is getting a solid CIO with a long investment track record. And, if you’ll permit a bit of provocation, it’s probably about time, as the other key executives at the CIC — while brilliant and accomplished — aren’t investors.”
Last year, Lou Jiwei said he had been privileged to serve as the founding CIC Chairman of the alongside its “dedicated staff” and his departure in July paved the way for a new internal structure at the fund.
He presented a six-item agenda, ranging from consolidating research and investment teams to enhancing allocations and investment competence, as well as launching analytical systems to improve monitoring and oversight. Some 36.2% of the CIC’s assets was managed internally at the end of 2012 by a global investment staff of 443, and its international portfolio made a 10.6% return.
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