BEIJING - China Investment Corp (CIC) helped refinance a Manhattan office tower co-owned by Carlyle Group last year, another sign that the $300 billion sovereign wealth fund is stepping up its US real estate investments.

CIC joined forces with AREA Real Estate Finance Corp of New York to buy an unspecified preferred equity stake in 650 Madison Ave, the 27-storey building that is headquarters of Polo Ralph Lauren Corp, said Bradford Wildauer, AREA's president. CIC also owns 35 percent of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC), one of two lenders that provided Carlyle with a new first mortgage on the property in June.

"CIC is very bullish on investing in real estate in the United States," as are major Chinese banks, Jeffrey Lenobel, chairman of the real estate group at the New York law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, said in a telephone interview. "There is every reason to think you will see them together more often."