Citic fund unit said to plan US$100 million investment in Uber

[BEIJING] A fund management unit of China's Citic Group Corp plans to invest US$100 million in Uber Technologies Inc, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Citic-CP Asset Management, a joint venture between Citic Trust and Citic-Prudential Fund Management, plans to invest about 80 per cent of the US$100 million in Uber and about 20 per cent in its China unit, according to the person, who declined to be named because the plans are private.

Landing an investment from state-controlled Citic may help San Francisco-based Uber compete in China. The ride-hailing company is investing more than 7 billion yuan (S$1.5 billion) to expand in the country, with plans to start operations in 50 mid- sized Chinese cities over the next year.

China is expected to outgrow Uber's US home market by the end of this year, the company said in a letter to investors in June. It has said Uber China could at some point be listed on the Chinese stock market, without providing a time frame.

Didi Kuaidi, Uber's main competitor in China, is backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd Didi attracted Beijing Automotive Group Co as an investor in its latest funding round, according to people familiar with the matter.

Beijing Automotive, controlled by the state-owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission of Beijing, joins sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp as investors in Didi, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

Uber's Beijing-based spokeswoman Huang Xue couldn't immediately comment. A call to Citic-CP Asset Management outside usual business hours went unanswered.

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