BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- China Great Wall Asset Management Co., Ltd, one of the country's four distressed debt managers, has announced plans to introduce strategic investors to raise a fund of 12.12 billion yuan (about 1.78 billion U.S. dollars).

The National Council for Social Security Fund will make the biggest investment of 7 billion yuan, said Zhou Liyao, the company's chief executive officer.

China Property & Casualty Reinsurance Co., Ltd. and China Continent Insurance will together contribute 5 billion yuan to the cash injection. China Life Insurance (Group) Company, a current shareholder, will increase its stake by investing another 121 million yuan.

The fund will be used to replenish capital and help business development, Zhou said, adding the deal is subject to official approval.

In the first half of the year, the disposal of bad assets by Great Wall Asset Management totaled 36.2 billion yuan, with financial assets accounting for more than 70 percent. It purchased 100.6 billion yuan of bad assets in the period.

The company aims to spend 120 billion yuan on buying bad assets this year and improve the asset disposal to 100 billion yuan, Zhou added.

In 1999, China set up four asset management companies, Cinda, Huarong, Great Wall, and Orient, to deal with the toxic assets of the country's four big state-owned banks in a bid to help them transform into market-oriented financial institutions.

Great Wall Asset Management was restructured into a joint-stock firm in 2016, the last of the four companies.