China's sovereign wealth fund is in talks to buy up to 50 percent of CITIC Capital Holdings, an investment arm of state financial conglomerate CITIC Group, state media said Thursday.

The deal could be worth hundreds of millions of US dollars, based on CITIC Capital's registered capital, the official China Daily reported, citing an unnamed source.

China Investment Corp (CIC), the 200-billion-dollar sovereign wealth fund, is likely to buy the stake from CITIC Pacific, which currently owns 50 percent of CITIC Capital, according to the report.

A spokeswoman with CITIC Pacific declined to comment on the report while officials at CITIC Capital and CIC were not immediately available for comment.

The talks between executives at CIC, CITIC Pacific and its parent company CITIC Group have been going on for several months but no final decision on financial details have been confirmed, the source said.

Citic Pacific said in December its realised and potential losses from the unauthorised foreign exchange bets, primarily on the Australian dollar, had risen to 18.6 billion Hong Kong dollars (2.4 billion US dollars).

It has also announced a 1.5 billion-dollar bailout from its parent company CITIC Group, which was founded by former Chinese vice president Rong Yiren.

The official Shanghai Securities News reported Thursday that policy lender China Development Bank was also involved in talks to buy into CITIC Capital and that the talks had made "substantial progress", according to unnamed officials.

"From the strategic perspective, this is a rare case where CIC is teaming up with China Development Bank and CITIC Group to jointly do a deal," the newspaper quoted an official as saying.

"CITIC Capital is relatively small… It would make it easier for CIC and China Development to obtain an important position in the firm," the official told the newspaper.

CITIC Capital, established in 2002, manages funds around 1.6 billion dollars, with core business including private equity, real estate investment and asset management, according to the company's website.

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