Citic Capital, one of the largest private equity firms backed by the Chinese state, is raising US$500 million for its first buyout fund for distressed assets in China, placing a bet on the opportunities available in the country’s campaign to shed debt.“There are lots of good real estate projects with stable operating income, but which are sold simply because they, or their owners, have run into liquidity problem,” Citic Capital’s senior managing director Stanley Ching, who oversees the company…