A government-backed investment company from Dubai, United Arab Emirates has planed to invest as much as US$2.5 billion in China and India over the next two years, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Soud Ba'alawy, executive chairman of Dubai Group, said the investment company has spent the past three or four years familiarizing itself with Asia and building its portfolio with a series of small investments.

With a portfolio in the region already in excess of US$1 billion, the firm is now prepared to get more aggressive, and is looking at larger-scale investments in manufacturing, real estate and finance, he said.

Dubai Group has offices in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and is planning a new office in Mumbai, India.

For the next phase of its investments in China, Dubai Group is mainly looking at hotel properties and the financial sector, Ba' alawy said.

Dubai Group bought into the initial public offerings of large state banks including Bank of China Ltd, but the firm also is looking to invest in one of the smaller Chinese banks or insurers, said the report.

In India, Dubai Group invested in the recent IPO of real-estate developer DLF Ltd, and last year it bought the Indian operations of travel agent and currency exchanger Thomas Cook, the report added.