China’s CITIC to invest $ 113 b for “Silk Road” investments

Beijing (Reuters): China’s CITIC Ltd., the state-owned conglomerate, said on Wednesday that its banking, securities, trust and construction divisions will jointly invest more than 700 billion yuan ($ 112.79 billion) to support China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative.

The investments will involve about 300 projects extending from Singapore to Turkmenistan.

Under its so-called “One Belt, One Road” initiative, China aims to create a modern trade route known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Projects under the plan include a network of railways, highways, oil and gas pipelines, power grids, Internet networks, maritime and other infrastructure links across central, west and south Asia to as far as Greece, Russia and Oman, increasing China’s connections to Europe and Africa.

China’s President Xi Jinping said in March that he hoped China’s annual trade with the countries involved in the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative would surpass $ 2.5 trillion in a decade.

China CITIC Bank Corp, with more than four trillion yuan in assets, will provide more than 400 billion yuan in financing to more than 200 projects in areas such as infrastructure, energy, agriculture and culture through its local branches, the bank said.

The bank will also establish and manage a ‘One Belt, One Road’ fund, with 20 billion yuan in its first phase, to participate in mergers and acquisitions, public-private partnerships and financing Chinese companies to expand overseas.

CITIC Bank expects to increase the fund to 100 billion yuan within five years to finance projects in the region, CITIC Bank Vice Governor Sun Deshun told reporters at a press conference.

CITIC’s other subsidiaries, including CITIC Securities Co , CITIC Trust Co, CITIC Construction Co, CITIC Heavy Industries Co, and CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd, will invest nearly 300 billion yuan in about 100 projects in more than 10 countries along the ‘One Belt, One Road’ route, which also includes Laos, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan.

CITIC subsidiaries will provide 110 billion yuan in equity financing and debt financing to more than 30 companies with businesses related to China’s global initiative.

CITIC Group earned 50.8 billion yuan in revenues overseas last year, accounting for 15% of the group’s total revenues.