Abu Dhabi Investment House, a Gulf bank, is planning a $1.5 billion private equity fund to invest in real estate and manufacturing in China with a Chinese partner, a senior executive said.

An agreement to launch the fund will be signed within two months, said Rashad Janahi, ADIH's managing director.

The Gulf firm is eyeing China at a time when a raft of tightening measures have chilled its real estate market, with sluggish transactions and falling prices in major cities.

China's manufacturing sector, especially export-oriented and labour-intensive firms, are being hit hard by weakening demand from the United States as well as Europe.

However, Janahi said: "We find the correction is an opportunity."    

Janahi, speaking to Reuters and a Chinese newspaper on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin, did not say how much ADIH would invest. Nor would he name the Chinese partner.

ADIH also aims to launch a $250 million real estate project next month in Marrakesh, one of Morocco's main tourist destinations, comprising villas, a convention centre and shopping malls, Janahi added.

The development will be part of a $7 billion plan to create style and design hubs in Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Tunisia and India, he said.

Emirates Business newspaper has reported that ADIH plans to launch a $2 billion project in Abu Dhabi by the end of this year, which will mark the three-year-old firm's entry into the real estate market in the United Arab Emirates. - Reuters