Posted on 16 May 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Sovereign wealth funds from resource-rich countries controlling more than $500bn of assets operate with no disclosure, limiting their accountability and increasing the risk of corruption, a leading transparency watchdog has said.
The Revenue Watch Institute, a New York-based group backed by charitable foundations and rich-country governments, published research on Wednesday showing that eight large funds, including the investment authorities of Qatar, Kuwait and Libya, disclosed no details at all about their assets, transactions or investments……………………………………Full Article: Source
Posted on 10 May 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Standard Chartered’s largest shareholder has failed to back four of the emerging market lender’s directors in a dispute over the boardroom structure of the bank. Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek, which owns an 18pc in Standard Chartered, refused to back the reelection to the bank’s board of four executive directors.
Steve Bertamini, Mike Rees, Viswanathan Shankar and Jaspal Bindra each saw about a fifth of the bank’s shareholders fail to back them, while a further 1pc of investors actively voted against their election at its annual general meeting…………………………………Full Article: Source
Posted on 10 May 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Nigeria’s Federal Government and state governors on Thursday, at the resumed hearing of the suit filed by the governors against the illegal diversion of funds for the Sovereign Wealth Fund at the Supreme Court, disagreed over the success of the out of court settlement talks.
While the governor berated the Federal Government for its insincerity about the out of court settlement, the Federal Government claimed that progress is being made and that it would be wrong for the governors to claim that the progress made was not appreciable by their assessment………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 10 May 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Conceding to the Federal Government the last chance to resolve the case on the Sovereign Wealth Fund Account amicably, the Supreme Court in Abuja Thursday held that the dispute was political and would better be resolved out-of-court. The apex court expressed this view while speaking to the Federal Government’s legal team led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) when the matter came up.
But the panel, presided over by Justice Walter Ononghen who led six other justices, said that the court would have no choice than to proceed with hearing the case should the Federal Government fail to take advantage of the out-of-court settlement option for the last time………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 29 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
China Investment Corp., the world’s fifth-largest sovereign wealth fund, is treated differently than other investors by U.S. regulators, the company’s president said in Washington.
CIC faces challenges in the U.S. and is “singled out as a different investor,” CIC President Gao Xiqing said yesterday at a conference after meetings with officials in the U.S. capital.“We thought we were friends,” Gao said. “All of the sudden, you’ve got people slapping you in the face and telling you, OK, we don’t like you.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 24 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
A move to take $2 billion out of the state’s Economic Stabilization Fund — commonly known as the Rainy Day Fund — was approved in the House budget committee Tuesday morning with mild pushback to make sure transportation and education get their share of money from the fund.
The House Appropriations Committee approved the bill, HB 11, which would put money from the Economic Stabilization Fund into a bank from which communities could borrow money at low interest rates for water projects such as pipelines, aquifer development, desalination and conservation………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 23 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has questioned why $3 billion (RM9.1 billion) worth of bonds was issued by 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) three working days before the dissolution of parliament.
“The International Financing Review Asia (IFR Asia) said that the bond issuance was completed on March 29,” said PKR Investment and Trade chief Wong Chen at a press conference at PKR headquarters. He said this was a key issue on the “big questionable financial act” by caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is the chairman of 1MDB and the caretaker Finance Minister………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 17 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Given the revenue account deficit and apprehensions of devaluation of rupee vis-a-vis dollar resulting in worsening fiscal deficit, the government has put the proposal of constituting a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) to acquire assets abroad on the back burner.
“Constitution of a SWF is possible and desirable only when the current account is surplus and investing funds in acquiring assets abroad, based on commercial decisions, give better returns as against putting these funds in treasury,” the finance ministry conveyed at a recent meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). HT is in possession of the minutes of the meeting held in the PMO…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 15 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Israel’s cabinet on Sunday re-approved the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund to prevent a steep appreciation of the shekel once natural gas fields start to generate high levels of income. Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer has called for a sovereign wealth fund similar to Norway’s to safeguard the billions of dollars in windfall natural gas revenue.
Israel wants to avoid the so-called Dutch Disease, whereby a sudden explosion in national wealth overheats the currency and undermines export industries………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 15 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The creation of an Israeli sovereign wealth fund for revenue from natural-gas discoveries will help the government manage currency-market expectations, a top adviser to the prime minister said.
A draft law creating the fund was approved in principle today by the Cabinet, said Eugene Kandel, head of the National Economic Council. While the fund will probably enjoy income only in 2016 or 2017, the government is rushing to prepare the framework for its operation now, he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 15 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The government approved the creation of a sovereign wealth fund to manage profits from Israel’s natural gas fields and prevent the influx of dollars from overvaluing the shekel. But the fund’s creation only becomes final after the Knesset legislates it.
Many states that discover large natural resource reserves set up such funds to avoid what economists call “Dutch disease.” Selling natural gas on the world market would flood Israel’s economy with dollars, making them cheap relative to the shekel. A strong shekel, in turn, would make Israeli goods more expensive on the world market, hurting exports………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 08 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
An executive from China Investment Corp., the nation’s $482 billion sovereign wealth fund, told Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard that he hopes her government will reduce restrictions on foreign investment.
Jin Liqun, head of the fund’s supervisory board, said in an interview after a group of Chinese and Australian executives met with Australian officials that he had also raised the issue of investment limits in past discussions. The restrictions affect CIC’s investments and fund flows into Australia, Jin said yesterday in the southern Chinese province of Hainan, where he’s attending the Boao Forum for Asia………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Eight Democratic legislators filed legislation to protect the Permanent Fund Dividend by placing the current dividend formula in the Alaska Constitution. With GOP leaders pushing an oil giveaway that is likely to cost Alaskans upwards of $1 billion or more a year, future legislators are likely to start cutting the Dividend to fund state revenue.
To protect against attempts to spend the Dividend in tight economic times, former Governor Jay Hammond proposed an initiative in 2002 that would have enshrined the Dividend in the Constitution, but Lt. Governor Loren Leman rejected it as not able to be done by initiative………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The head of China’s securities regulatory body is reluctant to switch to the top job at the country’s $482 billion sovereign wealth fund as he has only been in the post for around 18 months and still has work to do, two independent sources said.
Reuters reported on Thursday that 56-year-old Guo Shuqing, a seasoned English-speaking chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), was tipped to head the state investment vehicle China Investment Corp (CIC) CIC.UL as part of a sweeping reshuffle of top financial portfolios by a new generation of leaders………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The head of Libya’s sovereign wealth fund says his efforts to recoup billions of dollars lost through sales of derivatives by Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions are now “in limbo” after the country’s prime minister moved to sack him last week.
Mohsen Derregia, head of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), told the Financial Times that he believed his pursuit of damages from foreign banks for suspicious deals forged under the regime of Muammer Gaddafi was one of the reasons behind the government’s efforts to replace him………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
A Manhattan federal judge on Monday rejected a bid by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to overturn an arbitration panel’s ruling favouring Citigroup Inc. in a dispute over a $7.5 billion investment by the fund in the bank. US District Judge George Daniels rejected arguments that the October 2011 ruling by an American Arbitration Association panel, which reviews international disputes, ignored applicable law and was “fundamentally unfair” by depriving the Abu Dhabi fund of a chance to properly present its case.
The sovereign wealth fund had sought to rescind the November 2007 investment, or recover $4 billion in damages over what it called Citigroup’s fraudulent representations to induce it to invest………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zaidan said the head of the country’s sovereign wealth fund should step aside and allow his successor to take over after he was fired. “We are hoping that Mr Derregia will do the right thing and step down,” Prime Minister Ali Zaidan told reporters yesterday in Tripoli, referring to Mohsen Derregia, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the fund, who was fired recently.
Derregia is refusing to leave his post and hasn’t given a reason for his attempts to remain in his position. Ali Mohamed Salem Hebri, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Libya, is set to take over………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority lost its legal challenge to an 2011 arbitration ruling in favor of Citigroup Inc. (C) over the sovereign-wealth fund’s investment during the financial crisis.
Judge George Daniels of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York denied the investment authority’s motion to vacate a ruling from 2011, which had denied Abu Dhabi’s claim for $4 billion in damages resulting from its investment in Citi. Abu Dhabi had invested $7.5 billion in Citi in 2007, just as the financial crisis began to unfold. The authority claimed the investment was made on the basis of fraudulent statements by Citi………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The board of trustees at the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC) amended guidelines for investing in infrastructure. Listed infrastructure is now an allowable infrastructure investment which will increase liquidity in the infrastructure portfolio. The board also approved the co-investment process for infrastructure investments.
According to APFC’s press release, “Our internal staff has put together a detailed review process for analyzing infrastructure co-investment opportunities that ensures each investment will see a thorough review,”said Board Chair Bill Moran………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The Libyan Investment Authority, the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, is cooperating with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on its probe into the fund’s dealings with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)
The LIA is also considering legal action against Goldman Sachs, the fifth-biggest U.S. bank by assets, to recover losses on its investments, the fund said.
The SEC has been investigating possible violations of U.S. anti-corruption laws by Goldman Sachs for more than a year……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 01 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Libya’s sovereign-wealth fund said it is cooperating with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in its ongoing investigation into Goldman Sachs Group Inc. over the securities firm’s dealings with the fund when Col. Moammar Gadhafi was in power.
The Libyan Investment Authority said in a statement that it also hired a law firm to discuss possible actions to recover losses it suffered from investments made in structured-finance products. Before the financial crisis, Goldman and other financial firms sold complex investments to Libya as officials there looked for ways to put some of the fund’s $50 billion in assets to work. Many of the investments plunged in value during the crisis………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 28 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
In keeping with its goal of encouraging more foreign investment into Australia, the Federal Government will change existing laws to ensure foreign pension and sovereign wealth funds can access the Managed Investment Trust (MIT) withholding tax regime.
In summary, the regime allows a MIT to make payments to non-residents at concessional withholding tax rates, offering an attractive Australian investment option for foreign funds where they and their members are ultimately based overseas. The use of MITs in Australia is growing rapidly. In the superannuation industry alone, the value of savings under management has exploded from $183 billion in 1993 to $1.5 trillion today………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 27 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
In keeping with its goal of encouraging more foreign investment into Australia, the Federal Government will change existing laws to ensure foreign pension and sovereign wealth funds can access the Managed Investment Trust (MIT) withholding tax regime.
In summary, the regime allows a MIT to make payments to non-residents at concessional withholding tax rates, offering an attractive Australian investment option for foreign funds where they and their members are ultimately based overseas…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 25 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
A former Director in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Titus Okunronmu, on Saturday 2013 urged the Federal Government to provide effective guidelines for the take-off of the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
Okunronmu made this known in Lagos, saying there was the need for sharing formula guidelines to ensure transparency. According to him, states will not need the same amount of money at the same time, so the Federal Government needed to devise a way of meeting each state’s demand at different times………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 20 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The Alabama House has given final passage to a bill that requires full repayment of money transferred from an oil and gas revenues savings account to the state’s General Fund budget. The House voted 90-0 Thursday to approve an amendment put on in the Senate that requires repayment of the money even if the Legislature doesn’t appropriate the funds.
An amendment to allow the state to take the money from the Alabama Trust Fund and use it for the cash-strapped General Fund budget was approved by voters in September. Before voters decided on the amendment, Bentley and some legislators promised the money would be repaid…………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Angola’s constitutional court on Friday rejected a claim by an opposition party that President Jose Eduardo dos Santos had overstepped his powers to create the country’s $5 billion sovereign wealth fund.
Angola launched the fund last October to invest in domestic and overseas assets by funnelling the country’s vast oil wealth into infrastructure, hotels and other high-growth projects………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 08 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The Kazakhstan Sovereign Wealth Fund, Samruk-Kazyna, is preparing a list of fields where licenses for development will be issued to potential investors after lifting a moratorium on the development of hydrocarbon fields, told chairman of the Kazakhstan Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna, Umirzak Shukeyev, told a meeting of the Fund Board with the participation of Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov.
He said about 20 fields will be included in this list. “We are preparing a list of fields, probably 20 of which are planned to be given over for development,” Shukeyev said. According to Shukeyev, in parallel, proposals are being prepared to simplify procedures for issuing, as investors’ interest in fields remain for six or seven months and then becomes weak………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 08 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The Alabama House of Representatives took the first official steps Thursday to pay back $437 million that it withdrew from the Alabama Trust Fund to balance funding for agencies like Medicaid and the Department of Corrections. “We promised it would be the first bill passed and we did that today” Rep. Jay Love (R – Montgomery) said. Love sponsored the legislation.
Voters approved tapping the Alabama Trust Fund during a special election in September 18, 2012. House and Senate Republicans crafted the proposed constitutional amendment in the waning hours of the 2012 Regular Session earlier in the year. They neglected to add a pay-back provision………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 07 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Libya’s government needs to establish a governance framework with macro fiscal policy, whereby the North African country’s sovereign wealth fund (SWF) and the budget reserve account at the central bank are integrated as part of key reform priorities in the post-revolutionary transition period, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.
The SWF, known as the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), should be a “fund system with clear and rigid inflow and outflow rules”, the Washington-based organisation said in a 62-page report released Tuesday. The fund needs to be “a dynamic and completely transparent and accountable system”, it said, adding that it should be based on clear and regulated investment criteria………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
China continues to award increasingly chunky QFII quotas ever more swiftly. Last month two sovereign wealth funds hit $1 billion and eight asset managers received their first allocations.
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) granted Abu Dhabi Investment Authority $500 million and Kuwait Investment Authority $700 million in additional quota. That takes them to $1 billion each, which was the limit for an individual institution until December, when Safe said it would raise the threshold for sovereign wealth funds, central banks and monetary authorities………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The Angola Sovereign Fund (FSDEA) Thursday in Luanda released an independent legal opinion on the constitutionality of its creation, confirming that it was legally established, in compliance with the Angolan Constitution.
According to an official source, the opinion follows the fact that in December 2012, the opposition Ample Convergence for Angola’s Salvation (CASA-CE) party, raised questions about the FSDEA constitutional legitimacy. CASA-CE on the occasion pleaded with the court for a review of the constitutionality of the foundations underlying the creation of the said fund…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 01 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
UK authorities are probing an allegation that Barclays loaned Qatar money to invest in the bank as part of its cash call at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, which enabled the bank to avoid a UK government bailout.
Barclays turned to Qatar Holding, a subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority, and Challenger – an investment vehicle of Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, the prime minister of Qatar and his family – twice in 2008 for a total of £6.1bn. The sheikh – often referred to as HBJ – is also the chairman of Qatar Holding………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 30 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Determined to definitely resolve its dispute with the Federal Government over the Excess Crude Account (ECA), the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) is, again, set to go to the Supreme Court. However, the Federal Government Tuesday approved the distribution of $1 billion from the ECA among the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to enable them to execute projects.
The decision received the blessing of President Goodluck Jonathan, according to the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, at a joint media briefing of State House correspondents at the end of the 45th National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, with his Abia State counterpart, Theodore Orji; the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman and Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 30 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Rep. Jay Love, R-Montgomery, has filed legislation that would require the state to pay back $437 million borrowed from the Alabama Trust Fund by 2026.
The legislation would establish benchmarks for repayment of the money, taken to shore up the state’s troubled General Fund, which pays for most noneducation funding in the state. About $145 million was transferred from the ATF into the General Fund for the current fiscal year; additional transfers are scheduled for FY 2014 and FY 2015………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 21 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
China’s foreign exchange regulator has increased the amount which Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund can invest directly in the Chinese securities markets to $1 billion. The quota allows the fund to buy yuan-denominated stocks and bonds. Only five other foreign investors in China have quotas as large as $1bn.
They are Qatar Holding, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Norway’s Norges Bank, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation and Singapore-based investment firm Temasek Fullerton. Kuwait has a sovereign wealth fund managing assets well in excess of $300bn. The fund said last October that its investments in greater China, including Hong Kong, had grown to $15bn………………………………………Full Article: Source
Posted on 17 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The sovereign wealth fund’s executive VP, Jesse Wang, labels proposed US and UK regulatory change “anti-globalisation” and challenges Hong Kong to step into the breach. The deputy head of China’s $400 billion sovereign wealth fund CIC has ridiculed UK and US regulatory change and challenged Hong Kong to step into the breach as a global financial hub.
Speaking at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong this week, Jesse Wang labelled Vickers Report recommendations for British banks to separate high street and investment banking operations as “anti-globalisation”………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 16 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The federal government Future Fund has been given approval to spend $2 billion buying stakes in a range of Australian and European airports. Investors in the Hastings Fund Management-controlled Australian Infrastructure Fund (AIX) on Tuesday voted to sell its holdings in the sought-after airport assets to the Future Fund.
The vote means the Future Fund can take control of AIX’s stakes in Perth Airport, Queensland Airports, Northern Territory Airports and the Australian Pacific Airports Corporation, which owns Melbourne and Launceston airports………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 16 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Australian Infrastructure Fund Ltd. shareholders approved a deal to sell the company’s assets, including interests in airports across the country and in Europe, to Australia’s sovereign wealth fund for 2 billion Australian dollars (US$2.1 billion).
Australia’s Future Fund, set up by the government six years ago to pay for civil servant pensions, has been gradually increasing its exposure to infrastructure. The A$80 billion fund offered A$3.22 per security for the assets, a 22% premium to the company’s share price as of Aug. 23, when the proposal was announced………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The United States government has objected to a bankruptcy reorganization plan that calls for the sale of MSR Resort hotel group to a Singapore sovereign wealth fund, saying it is an attempt to dodge taxes. The plan creates tax liabilities of $331 million with no recourse for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to recover them, Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in an objection filed on Wednesday.
The Government of Singapore Investment Corp bid $1.5 billion for the hotels group, including the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix and Grand Wailea Resorts Hotel & Spa in Hawaii, in August. The hotel group is owned by the hedge fund Paulson & Co. GIC is a sovereign wealth fund that manages Singapore’s foreign reserves and is a large real estate investor in the United States. The fund is a lender to MSR and made an offer shortly after the group filed for bankruptcy protection…………………………………………Full Article: Source
Posted on 08 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The budget of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) for 2013 was approved with a phenomenal deficit of AZN 1.9 bn. Under the relevant presidential order, SOFAZ budget was endorsed with income of AZN 11.48 bn and expenditures of AZN 13.4 bn.
Fund’s net proceeds from the sale of hydrocarbons attributable to the share of Azerbaijan (excluding the cost of transportation of hydrocarbons, the cost of banking, customs clearance, independent survey, marketing, insurance, and except for the income attributable to investments or equity stake of SOCAR) amount to AZN 11.17 bn………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 07 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The sovereign-wealth-fund talks were held under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund and produced what are known as the Santiago principles, for the Chilean city where the agreement was struck.
The funds committed to invest for commercial, not political, purposes; disclose more about their operations and investments; and abjure “inappropriate influence” by government owners. Outside analysts rank the funds’ compliance with the principles………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 03 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has approved the budget of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) for 2013, the State news agency AzerTAj informed. According to the approved budget, SOFAZ revenues for 2013 are estimated at 11.482 billion manat with expenses at 13.403 billion manat.
According to the revenue side of the budget for this year, the net proceeds from the sale of hydrocarbons are provided at a rate of 11.171 billion manat; acreage payments to investors is 1.833 million manat, income from transportation of oil and gas through Azerbaijan 9.223 million manat, income derived from the placement and management of the Fund’s assets 287.448 million manat……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 03 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Qatar Holding has received European Union approval for its purchase of a stake in London’s Heathrow Airport. The total deal, worth US$1.45 billion (Dh5.32bn) will see a further 10.62 per cent of Heathrow Airport Holdings (HAH), formerly BAA, transferred from Spanish infrastructure firm Ferrovial to the Qatari global investment house, part of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority.
Agreement was reached on the deal in August and only awaited a ‘green light’ from the EU’s competition authorities. As part of this same transaction, Qatar Holding also acquired stakes of 5.63 per cent of Ferrovial’s Heathrow holding company, FGP Topco, from another of Heathrow’s shareholders, Britannia Airport Partners. The Qataris also acquired 3.75 per cent from another shareholder, GIC (Government of Singapore Investment Corporation)………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 20 December 2012 by VRS | Email |Print
Angola plans announce the investment policy for its new $5 billion sovereign wealth fund in the first quarter of next year, the fund’s management board said in a statement on Wednesday.
The fund was launched in October to invest in domestic and overseas assets by funnelling Angola’s vast oil wealth into infrastructure, hotels and other high-growth projects………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 19 December 2012 by VRS | Email |Print
The Azerbaijani government keeps on expanding tax exemptions for the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ), assets of which exceed the size of country’s state budget. According to the amendments to the Rules of assessment and payment of land tax to local (municipal budgets), lands belonging to or used by SOFAZ were exempted from land tax.
Simultaneously it was specified the rate of land tax for rural areas used under industrial, construction, transport, communications, trade, service enterprises; housing fund, pastures and cottages. For enterprises it ranges 2 up to 10 manats per 100 sq m and for the rest 0.1 up to 0.6 manats………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 19 December 2012 by VRS | Email |Print
The Parliamentary Economic Policy Committee is considering today a bill on amendments to the Tax Code of Azerbaijan, the largest since 2009. Deputy Tax Minister Natig Amirov says that the bill proposes the amendments relating to the taxation of the operations of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ).
“In accord with the amendments the finances directed for SOFAZ assets are exempted from income tax. The SOFAZ is also exempted from payment of VAT for import of physical gold purchased for placement of their assets,” Amirov said………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 December 2012 by VRS | Email |Print
The creation of Sovereign WealthFund (SWF) by the Federal Government is perceived to be a noble idea. but its implementation is now dogged with resistance from no less a quarter than the governors of various states of the federation, culminating in a suit before the Supreme Court. The state governments are challenging the legality of the excess crude account and the Federal Government’s alleged transfer of $1 billion from the account to SWF.
in this interview, Kayode Sofola (SAN), an experienced commercial lawyer, who has always participated in various national assignments, including those relating to the swf, explains the idea behind it. he also spoke on other related issues……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 December 2012 by VRS | Email |Print
SimCorp announces that it has signed a licence agreement with a leading Asian Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) to consolidate and manage all of its diversified assets in a single, front, middle and back office system.
SimCorp Dimension will be used by the SWF for Trade, Order & Portfolio Management, Compliance, Risk & Performance, Asset Servicing, Accounting, IFRS, General Ledger, Reporting and Data Management. (Press Release)
Posted on 17 December 2012 by VRS | Email |Print
China scrapped a ceiling on investments by overseas sovereign wealth funds and central banks in its capital markets, part of government efforts to encourage long-term foreign ownership and shore up slumping equities.
SWFs, central banks and monetary authorities can now exceed the $1 billion limit that still applies to other qualified foreign institutional investors, according to revised regulations posted Dec. 14 on the State Administration of Foreign Exchange’s website………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 December 2012 by VRS | Email |Print
Qatar Holdings, the investment arm of Qater’s sovereign wealth fund, has been granted a $1 billion of quota to invest in China’s capital markets, China’s foreign exchange regulator said on Tuesday.
Official Chinese media reported in June Qatar was applying for a $5 billion quota in China’s Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) scheme, the main channel for foreign investment in Chinese stock and bond markets………………………………………..Full Article: Source