The sum represents nearly half the amount the US$200 billion fund has set aside to invest abroad, the Financial Times said, citing unidentified people involved in the application process.

The China Investment Corp (CIC) was created in September to invest a portion of China's US$1.4 trillion in foreign reserves in hopes of earning higher returns.

Most of the reserves are held in US Treasury securities and other low-earning assets.

More than 100 applicants are vying for contracts to invest on CIC's behalf in foreign equities and bonds, according to the FT.

CIC offices in Bejing were closed on Monday for the Lunar New Year holidays.

CIC also plans to put about US$4 billion (euro2.5 billion) into a fund managed by JC Flowers, a US private equity firm, that will target ailing financial institutions, the FT said in a report dated Friday on its website.

Unlike recent deals in which sovereign wealth funds from Asia and the Middle East have taken stakes in investment banks, CIC would be making its investment indirectly, the report said.

As part of its lower-profile approach, the J.C. Flowers fund would also be more likely to invest in smaller banks and brokerages than in large financial institutions, the report said. -- AP