The subsidiary of China’s sovereign wealth fund that controls the country’s largest state-owned banks is planning to sell bonds in the interbank market for the first time in what could be the country’s biggest bond issue to date, according to people familiar with the matter.

Central Huijin Investment, which holds the government’s controlling stakes in lenders such as Bank of China and China Construction Bank, will use money from the planned bond sales to recapitalise state-owned financial institutions that have not yet been restructured.