Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- China Investment Corp., the $200 billion wealth fund that last week invested $5 billion in Morgan Stanley, has denied it bought a stake in the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group.

``We didn't buy any stake,'' Lou Jiwei, chairman of Beijing- based China Investment, said at a press event today. He didn't elaborate.

A government investment fund bought a stake of less than 5 percent in ANZ Bank, as the Melbourne-based bank is called, according to a Dec. 19 report by Dow Jones Newswire, which cited a person familiar with the situation.

ANZ Chief Executive Officer Michael Smith said Dec. 18 a Chinese group has taken a stake in the lender, which is accelerating an expansion into Asia, Dow Jones said.

To contact the reporter for this story: Zhang Dingmin in Beijing at Dzhang14@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 24, 2007 21:57 EST