TORONTO - Chinese investors approached Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo) to consider a joint counter-bid for Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc, the Canadian pension fund's chief executive officer said on Friday

AIMCo, as the $66 billion fund is known, wasn't interested in an offer for the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based fertilizer maker, Leo de Bever said. Potash Corp is the target of a $40 billion hostile bid from BHP Billiton Ltd, the world's biggest mining company.

"We've been approached, just like other pension plans, by intermediaries trying to broker a deal involving Canadian pension plans and Chinese investors," De Bever said on Thursday. "It never got to the stage of actually dollars and cents and structure."