Sovereign wealth fund boasts 10.6% return SOVEREIGN wealth fund China Investment Corp (CIC) has boasted a 10.6 per cent return on its global investment portfolio in 2012 according to the company's annual report. The rise is in marked contrast to the previous year when the fund suffered a 4.3 per cent loss, the lowest return since it was launched in 2007. By the end of 2012, the company's total assets stood at $US575.2 billion ($A625.97 billion), compared to $US482.2 billion by the close of 2011, the report which was put online on Saturday stated. The figure brings the company's accumulative annualised rate of return since its establishment to five per cent. The fund was set up six years ago with $US200 billion to make better use of China's colossal foreign exchange reserves which now amount to $US3.4 trillion. After initially posting 11.7 per cent rises in 2009 and 2010, the fund fared poorly in 2011, hit by difficulties in the global economy and the worsening eurozone debt crisis. In a statement released with the annual report, Ding Xuedong, CEO and chairman of CIC, said intense market research and effective risk management helped the fund see a good return by the end of the year. CIC has increasingly invested in the stock markets. By the end of 2012, shares in listed companies accounted for 32 per cent of its overseas portfolio compared to 25 per cent the year before. Company spokeswoman Liu Fangyu told Xinhua news agency the company also secured a state cash injection of $US19 billion in 2012 in addition to $US30 billion added in 2011. Other sectors the fund have recently invested in included buying up a 10 per cent stake in Britain's Heathrow Airport and 5.3 percent of the Moscow stock exchange.