China’s flagship sovereign wealth fund has revealed that it opened a representative office in London shortly after Donald Trump’s victory in last year’s US presidential election, a move made amid increased scrutiny of Chinese investments in the United States.
The London office was officially registered in December 2024, with the mission of “advancing the company’s overseas investment business” and “promoting cross-border investment cooperation”, China Investment Corporation (CIC) said in its annual report published on Tuesday.
The fund’s third offshore office – joining outposts in Hong Kong and New York – would help facilitate communication, conduct research and analysis, and support deal sourcing, due diligence and post-investment management, it added.
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The move came as CIC faces rising scrutiny in the US due to national security concerns and relations grow warmer between China and the United Kingdom.
CIC had long considered opening a London office to increase its footprint in global financial centres, especially after making investments in high-profile British projects including Heathrow Airport, office buildings in Canary Wharf and the Chiswick Park industrial estate. However, the decision was delayed after the Brexit referendum in 2015.
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Sources said that the plan resurfaced when CIC’s New York office, opened in 2015, ran into growing difficulties after the trade war against China was launched during Trump’s first White House term in 2018.
Its operations have come under greater strain this year, as the US made China the epicentre of a resurgent trade conflict that has gone global.