The government has sold 600 billion yuan of bonds, the most ever, to fund a company that will help invest the world's biggest foreign exchange reserves.

The Ministry of Finance sold the 10-year bonds to the central bank at a coupon of 4.3 percent, according to the website of the government's biggest debt-clearing house.

China is setting up a $200 billion investment company to seek higher returns on its $1.33 trillion of currency reserves, after cutting US Treasury holdings in the second quarter. The new fund bought a $3 billion stake in New York-based Blackstone Group LP in May.