China's CITIC Bank may bid for US investment bank Bear Stearns, a senior Chinese government official has said.
It is the first time that a potential Chinese buyer has been linked to the financial giant, which was badly hit by the US sub-prime mortgage sector crisis.
However, an official with the CITIC bank later said he was not aware of such a plan.
China is encouraging its financial institutions to invest abroad as part of its efforts to reduce excess liquidity in the domestic market and mitigate increasing international pressure on the rise of the Chinese currency.
In May, China Investment Corp, the country's forex investment agency, invested $3 billion in US private equity group Blackstone.
Blackstone was not even officially launched until September.
