Teck shares take hit after wealth fund cuts stake

Shares of Teck Resources Ltd. slid almost seven per cent Tuesday after it announced a Chinese sovereign wealth fund has nearly halved its stake in the Canadian miner, a decision that comes amid signals Beijing wants state-owned enterprises to invest more at home.

Teck said one of the subsidiaries of China Investment Corp. had sold, in a private transaction, 42 million Class B subordinate voting shares of Teck, worth about 7.36 per cent of the outstanding Class B shares. CIC still indirectly holds about 10.4 per cent of the outstanding Class B shares, Teck said.

The Vancouver-based company’s stock fell 6.68 per cent Tuesday, closing at $29.47 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Teck said it was informed by CIC that the fund’s transaction was “in the ordinary course of its portfolio adjustment” and that it plans on holding onto its remaining shares as a long-term investor.

“Prior to their purchase of our shares in July 2009, CIC told us they intended to be a long-term partner focused on financial returns,” said Teck president and chief executive Don Lindsay in a release. “They have fully lived up to that commitment and, in addition, have been helpful in building important relationships with customers and others in China.”

The sale comes after Beijing said late last month that it is eyeing policies “to encourage Chinese enterprises that invest overseas to spend more in their own country,” according to excerpts from a State Council policy briefing.