May. 25, 2012 (China Knowledge) - China Investment Corp (CIC), the nation's sovereign wealth fund, is in advanced negotiations to purchase up to US$2-billion stake in Alibaba Group, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter as saying.

The sources said that the sovereign wealth fund's involvement would help the Chinese E-commerce giant complete its funding for the repurchase of its stake from Yahoo Inc.

Alibaba and Yahoo last week reached an agreement that the Chinese firm would spend US$7.1 billion to buy back up to half of the 40% shareholding in itself from Yahoo.

Alibaba Group now owns Alibaba.com<1688>, the global leader in e-commerce for small businesses and the flagship company of the group, Taobao.com, the leading consumer-to-consumer (C2C) online marketplace in China and Alipay.com, China's leading third-party online payment solution with nearly 50% share in the country’s third-party online payment market.