China’s sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC), a mammoth investor in the global market, is seemingly making a shift in its investment strategy away from financial institutions to industrial leaders. In its latest overseas venture, CIC will acquire a US$1.5bn stake in Canadian mining company Teck Resources.

Two years ago, CIC engaged Sullivan & Cromwell for its US$5bn investment in Morgan Stanley. This time, CIC turned to Torys, a firm with 300 legal professionals and two offices –Toronto and New York– for advice on its investment in Toronto-listed Teck. Partners Philip Brown, Michael Amm and Michael Akkawi are heading the Torys team.

Teck, whose shares are also listed in the NYSE, is represented in-house by senior vice president of commercial affairs Peter Rozee and corporate counsel Nick Uzelac in the sale of 17.5% of its shares to CIC. The company is also undertaking Canada legal advice from Stikeman Elliot partners William Braithwaite and Sean Vanderpol. A Paul Weiss team is acting as Teck’s US legal counsel with partners Matthew Abott and Edwin Maynard leading the team.

Over the past two years, CIC has invested in financial institutions like Visa, the Blackstone Group and Morgan Stanley with a total value of US$8.1bn.

Stikeman Elliot, who represented Sinopec in its US$8bn acquisition of Addax petroleum last month, is confident that there are still deals to be made even in the slower current market and that international law firms can still expect to benefit as many Chinese state-owned enterprises continue to look for M&A opportunities. 
 

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