DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

The Children's Investment Fund, the $9.5 billion London hedge fund, is betting heavily on falling share prices in Japan by taking short positions in big companies totaling more than $1 billion, the Financial Times reported Friday, citing filings with the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

TCI - which last year lost a bitter fight over corporate governance at Electric Power Development Co. (9513.TO), the Japanese power company also known as J-Power in which it held a 9.9% stake - is betting on share price falls in companies ranging from the electronics groups Sony Corp. (6758.TO), Sharp Corp. (6753.TO) and Olympus Corp. (7733.TO) to Mizuho Financial Group (8411.TO), Japan's second-largest banking group, and Bridgestone Corp. (5108.TO).

The fund has a short position worth Y39.5B in Toshiba Corp. (6502.TO), representing 4.2% of the group's outstanding shares, the report said. It added that John Ho, head of TCI's Asian operations, declined to comment.