CHINA Investment Corp. (CIC), China’s sovereign wealth fund, has sold its equity holding in Blackstone Group, the U.S. private equity firm said in a filing, exiting from an 11-year-old investment.

The original agreement with Beijing Wonderful Investments, the legal entity set up by CIC to invest in Blackstone, was struck in May 2007, just before the private equity firm’s initial public offering a month later.

The pact allowed the sovereign wealth fund to own up to 9.99 percent of the private equity firm. In 2008, the sovereign wealth fund raised its stake in Blackstone to 12.5 percent.

CIC’s exit from Blackstone comes amid growing trade tensions between China and the United States since U.S. President Donald Trump took office just over a year ago.

Trump is seeking to impose tariffs on up to US$60 billion of Chinese imports and will target the technology and telecoms sectors, two people who had discussed the issue with the Trump administration said Tuesday.

“As of Feb. 22, 2018, Beijing Wonderful Investments no longer owned any non-voting common units,” Blackstone said in its annual report filed with the U.S. securities regulator earlier this month.

Beijing-headquartered CIC, whose assets had surpassed US$800 billion by the end of 2016 thanks mainly to stronger returns from its overseas portfolios, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Despite CIC’s stake sale, a Blackstone spokesman said in a separate statement yesterday that the U.S. private equity firm continues “to expand this important relationship as one of CIC’s major asset managers.”

The financial details of CIC’s stake sale in Blackstone was not immediately clear, and a source said CIC had been gradually selling its shares over the last few years. (SD-Agencies)