CIC’s European PE chief quits - report

Lau joined CIC in February 2009 as the head of real-estate investment and was moved to the fund's European private equity unit last December. With his three-year employment contract coming up for renewal, he has decided to quit, citing "personal and family reasons", according to The Wall Street Journal.

His departure follows resignations of other members of the fund's investment team, including Patrick Wu and Jinglei Chen. Wu joined CIC in March 2008 and was appointed head of the real estate division last December, replacing Lau, while Chen was a director in the real estate group.

Earlier this month, CIC received an additional injection of $30 billion from the Chinese government. Jianxi Wang, deputy general manager and chief risk officer of CIC, told local media the new capital will give the sovereign fund the firepower to invest overseas, particularly in Europe.

The departure of Lau raises concerns about the CIC's future offshore private equity investments. In 2010, the $410 billion fund achieved an 11.7% return on its overseas portfolio. In the same year, its exposure to alternative investments - include private equity, real estate and hedge funds - increased significantly to 21% from only 6% in 2009.

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