HONG KONG, Sept 1 Reuters CPP Investments, Canada39;s biggest pension fund, has laid off at least five investment professionals at its Hong Kong office as it steps back from deals in China, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

Most were on the fund39;s private equity team and were informed early last month, according to two of the people. The departures have not been previously reported.

They added that a managing director who was in charge of the firm39;s Greater China real estate portfolio had been told he was losing his position weeks earlier.

The fund has paused new investments in China, including direct investments as well as those in Chinafocused fund managers, discouraged by the country39;s faltering economic recovery and tensions with the West, said the people.

They were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified.

CPP, which employs more than 150 people in Hong Kong, its Asia hub, declined to comment.

It had flagged in its latest annual report that evolving relationships between Canada, the U.S. and China would be a factor as it reviewed its approach to emerging markets.

Political tension between Canada and China has been quite fraught over the past few years. More generally, the business climate for foreign firms in the world39;s secondlargest economy has also chilled amid intensifying trade and political tension with the U.S. that has led to Washington imposing export controls on key tech such as some semiconductors.

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