The FINANCIAL — According to Dow Jones, China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange held stakes of less than 1% in nearly 50 U.K.-listed companies at the end of August, Caijing Magazine reported on September 7.
SAFE made the investments in the U.K. mostly through its Hong Kong unit, SAFE Investment Co., the financial news magazine reported, citing data from an information provider under Thomson Financial, a division of Thomson Reuters.
Unnamed officials from Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS), Cadbury PLC (CBY), Drax Group PLC (DRX.LN), and Tate & Lyle PLC (TATE.LN) confirmed that SAFE had invested in their companies, the report said.
Caijing said SAFE also held stakes in many other major U.K. companies at the end of August, including Barclays PLC (BCS) and BG Group PLC (BRGYY).
Starting 2005, SAFE was approved by the Chinese government to use 5% of the country's foreign-exchange reserves to make overseas equity investments, the report said, without citing sources.
