Recently the media has highlighted raising controversy surrounding the activities of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs). Potential investments by the Chinese SWF in U.S. assets have been blocked, supposedly due to concerns over national security. People fear politically motivated investments and accuse SWFs of insufficient transparency in their actions.
While these concerns are valid (and very applicable to some players in the market), condemning SWFs all together would be fatal for some countries that desperately need them to support and stabilize their economy. Think about this: Why do commodity-exporting countries succumb to the so-called resource curse? Why is it that despite all the resource abundance, countries like Nigeria have not been able to capitalize on this? The perplexing question has a simple answer. It is poor, or even, wicked revenue management. That’s why a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) should be the tools of choice to overcome the resource curse………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A plan by Qatar Holding, one of gas-rich Qatar’s main state investment funds, to seek a credit rating will cast more light on its multibillion-dollar international investments after questions over some of its dealings in recent months.
Ahmad al-Sayed, the chief executive of Qatar Holding, a subsidiary of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, said on Tuesday that the fund was preparing for a rating in the coming months, which would force the global investor to be more transparent……………………………………Full Article: Source

A new report says sovereign wealth funds and other not-so-traditional bidders will play an increasingly important role in Australian M&A when it comes to metals and mining. However, sellers need to better understand their limits. Mariner Corporation could be kissing both of its takeover plays goodbye in one go.
Elsewhere, Commonwealth Bank of Australia is joining Westpac Banking Corp and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank back in the RMBS tent, while Inghams Enterprises has apparently set a date for investment banks to pitch floats……………………………………….Full Article: Source

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It is not unfair to assert that sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states serve as a blessing for the well-being of global economy at large. This declaration reflects some hard facts, namely SWF’s amount on the one hand and willingness of GCC authorities to relocate the wealth in the form of investments in different sectors across the continents. This amounts to sharing wealth of GCC countries with others, clearly an internationally-responsible conduct.
The combined SWFs of the six-nation grouping amounted to a staggering $1.7 trillion by-end 2012. This represents a comfortable 35 per cent of all SWFs in the world, collectively valued at $5.2 trillion. Effectively, GCC countries account for almost all contributions of the Middle East region………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Azerbaijan is planning to take some of its $34 billion in state oil wealth on a trip Down Under, where it will shop for real estate (paywall), as the sovereign wealth fund told the Wall Street Journal. That makes the Azeri fund the latest sovereign wealth fund to board the property investment bandwagon.
Norges Bank Investment Management—the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, which manages Norway’s pension fund—got this bandwagon rolling last year, when it announced that it was carving out room in its traditionally bond- and equities-heavy portfolio to make room for a 5% allocation toward real estate investments. The $703-billion fund has since snapped up properties—most of them office complexes and malls—in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, Zurich and Sheffield………………………………………..Full Article: Source

In recent years, Qatar Holding has emerged as one of the world’s most dynamic sovereign wealth funds, buying trophy assets such as Harrods in London and more recently playing kingmaker in the vast merger of Xstrata and Glencore.
While the government and members of the ruling family have invested through different vehicles, Qatar Holding has made the lion’s share of publicly-disclosed investments. Acting more like a hedge fund than the traditional perception of a sovereign wealth fund, bankers familiar with Qatar Holding say that the state-backed fund does few deals without a loan to pay for the acquisition………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Georgia aims to double foreign direct investments to $2 billion this year, helped by a new sovereign wealth fund it is hiring international banks to promote, the fund’s chief executive said.
The vehicle will succeed the state-owned Partnership Fund, created in 2011 to attract investments from abroad, and focus on co-financing projects in the energy agriculture, real estate and industrial sectors. Involving international banks as advisers will help it meet ‘best practice’ investor guidelines, Irakly Kovzanadze – who also runs the Partnership Fund – told Reuters on Monday in an interview………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds from China to Azerbaijan, which pushed their real estate deal making to a record last year, are set to extend their buying spree as they seek alternatives to low-yielding bonds and volatile stocks.
The funds made 38 property investments valued at almost $10 billion in 2012, according to the Sovereign Investment Lab at Bocconi University in Milan, which has data going back to 1985. While lower than the $13 billion spent on real estate the year before, such deals were 21 percent of all sovereign fund investments last year, the highest percentage on record and topping the 2011 high of 16 percent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The head of China’s sovereign wealth fund urged European and U.S. officials on Friday not to see Chinese investments as a threat to their national security interests, saying his country would not put money into “anything sensitive”. Jin Liqun, chairman of China Investment Corporation’s supervisory board, told a conference of politicians, security officials and diplomats in Munich that his fund thought it was “a very good time to invest in this part of the world”.
There is “no reason why we should be pessimistic about Europe,” he also told the conference, which included senior economic officials from the euro zone such as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. “But I hope you will be open. You should not be obsessed with so-called national security,” he said, speaking in English, in a panel debate…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Premier Alison Redford’s promise — to start saving — seemed out of place in a speech punctuated with warnings of a $6-billion “bitumen bubble,” tough decisions and belt-tightening ahead for Alberta. “We have a plan to once again begin investing a portion of our resource revenue in the Heritage Fund, the first time that will have happened in over 25 years,” Redford declared.
The Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, established in 1976 by premier Peter Lougheed as a nest egg for the province’s resource riches, sits today at about $16 billion. Since the early 1980s, the government has added relatively little to the fund, except for inflation proofing. Instead, it has been tapped to the tune of about $33 billion to help pay for various programs and building projects…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund said it’s seeking to cut the share of deposits it has in foreign banks and provide more liquidity to domestic lenders.
Banks hold 2.9 trillion tenge ($19 billion) for companies owned by the Samruk-Kazyna fund, while 24 percent of that amount is deposited in foreign banks, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Yelena Bakhmutova told reporters in Almaty. The fund plans to cut the share in foreign banks to 10 percent of total deposits in two years, she said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As African countries’ wealth grows, governments are exploring new way to manage their reserves with more fiscal responsibility, accumulate wealth and bring more transparency and accountability in how they manage their new-found riches.
Angola, Ghana and Nigeria - all major or promising hydrocarbons’ players - established sovereign wealth funds in 2012, and Tanzania expressed its intention to establish a fund to manage its oil and gas reserves. African states are relatively minor players in the global SWF industry. Major oil producers Norway and Abu Dhabi lead the way with two of the largest and successful sovereign wealth funds………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Samruk-Kazyna increases the potential for cooperation in the implementation of investment projects in the petrochemical, hydro and thermal power, renewable and alternative energy, engineering, pharmacy.
Kazakhstan Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna was established to improve the competitiveness of the national economy and prevent the negative impact of the world markets on the economic growth in the country. The main instrument to achieve these goals - diversification and innovative development of the national economy. (Press Release)

China’s economy will grow at more than 8 percent this year, underpinning the global economy that is bound for a “mild, tortuous and slow” recovery in 2013, predicted Lou Jiwei, head of China’s sovereign wealth fund, on Saturday.
Demand has become a most-sought-after resource around the globe, and China’s economic growth makes up the lion’s share of global demand, as market demand in debt-laden Europe is lackluster and even shrinking, Lou, chairman of the China Investment Corp (CIC), said at an economic forum in Beijing………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The decline of the yen could spark a currency war in southeast Asia, Badr al-Saad, the head of Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund, said. The Chinese economy will grow between 7.7 per cent to 8 per cent over the next two years, far better than developed economies, al-Saad, the managing director of Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), told pan-Arab network al-Arabiya at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“The only fear is the decline of the yen. The decline of the yen could trigger a currency war in the countries of southeast Asia, this is the only fear we have at the moment,” he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Low yields in traditional asset classes are prompting powerful sovereign wealth funds to reassess their asset allocation, according to Patrick Thomson, global head of Sovereigns at JP Morgan Asset Management.
Speaking at the Davos economic forum, Thomson said the very low level of yields in asset classes historically used by sovereign and central bank investors - 10-year US Treasury yields are currently trading below 2% - is leading to a readjustment of portfolios. Sovereign wealth fund assets are now thought to stand at around $5trn………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Financial Services Association wants to encourage the UAE’s vast sovereign wealth funds to invest in local bourses to boost market liquidity and help develop a domestic industry for expatriate pensions. The industry group is also hoping to engage with the Central Bank and the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) as they conduct wholesale reform of financial regulation.
The FSA, which first found its voice as a means of uniting industry opinion during the outcry over the SCA’s regulation of mutual funds last year, is now seeking to actively influence policy decisions and promote the health of the market, said Arwa Hamdieh, the association’s co-founder………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds, which command some of the world’s largest cash mountains, are expected to increase investments in private equity as Europe’s banks, pension funds and insurers retreat from the industry under the pressure of capital regulation.
Buyout firms are now just as likely to contact Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Australia as well as attempting to impress traditional funding sources in France, Germany, or Italy, according to market executives. Commodity-rich nations in the Middle and Far East are now playing a crucial role in the fundraising process………………………………………Full Article: Source

Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are likely to set their sights beyond their traditional investments of trophy assets in London over the next two years as spending climbs back towards boom levels.
Economists at CBRE said yesterday that investment flows from the Middle East into European property totalled about Dh20.2bn (US$5.5bn) last year - about 90 per cent of all Middle Eastern investment into property outside of the region………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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

China’s sovereign wealth fund hopes to reduce its reliance on purchases of U.S. Treasurys and boost investments in other assets as the U.S. economic recovery makes U.S. government debt less attractive, the Shanghai Securities News reported Tuesday, citing the fund’s head.
The report cited China Investment Corp. Chairman Lou Jiwei as telling a conference in Hong Kong that the fund would like to add more stocks to its portfolio. He didn’t provide a definite time frame for any investment shift, merely saying that over the long run the attractiveness of U.S. debt would diminish………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As India firms ups its plans to set up a multi-billion dollar sovereign wealth fund (SWF) to finance big-ticket investment projects, the finance ministry is simultaneously working on a plan to channelise investments from the 30-plus sovereign wealth funds across the world to facilitate greater foreign direct investment (FDI) into India’s infrastructure sector.
The government has already planned periodic road shows for attracting investments from big international investors and sovereign funds across the world, said sources. As much as $5 trillion is staked in these 30-odd global SWFs with Abu Dhabi having the biggest wealth fund with a corpus of over $600 billion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Nigerian government through the ingenuity of the current finance minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the approval of President Goodluck Jonathan has just established the National Sovereign Wealth Fund (NSWF) last year.
Financial pundits have already described the establishment of the Nigeria’s National Sovereign Wealth Fund as the most significant economic policy decision to have been taken by President Jonathan since coming into office as an elected President in May 2011. What is sovereign wealth fund and why is this a human right if one may ask?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Some economists have called on the Federal Government to ensure that the investment of the Sovereign Wealth Fund is transparent and policy-driven. According to them, by institutionalising the process and making monthly updates on investment available to Nigerians, the confusion that occurs when there is a change of leadership in the country will be avoided.
The economists made the call, in separate interviews with our correspondent, while expressing concerns about the SWF………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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China is said to be planning to buy a stake in German car and truck maker Daimler. Managing the deal financially would be the China Investment Corporation (CIC). But who calls the shots there?
China own the world’s biggest currency reserves, with around three trillion euros ($3.9 trillion) at its disposal. It’s the prime task of the China Investment Corporation (CIC) to manage a significant part of those reserves and to invest them profitably. The CIC, which was founded in 2007, has capital of almost 400 billion euros, making it one of the world’s biggest investment companies………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The National Pension Reserve Fund is to invest in small businesses by establishing three new funds to provide equity, credit and restructuring investment to Irish SMEs. The NPRF will invest up to €500 million across the funds, which include an SME equity fund, an SME credit fund and an SME turnaround fund.
The turnaround fund will invest in underperforming businesses that are at or close to the point of insolvency but have the potential for financial and operational restructuring, while the credit fund will lend to larger SMEs and mid-size corporates………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and China Investment Corporation (CIC) sealed the deal to form a vehicle to invest mainly in Russia and the former Soviet Republics. The joint fund will start out with $2bn in capital with the figure set to go up to $4bn.
China was the first but by it won’t be the last Russian partner in constructing such platforms, as the one with Kuwait also being in the pipeline, Dmitriev added. “..We’ll announce 2 more in 3-4 months,” he said. On December 24 the RDIF signed an agreement with State Bank of India (SBI), another country in the BRIC club………………………………………..Full Article: Source

African sovereign wealth funds are emerging to save and invest resource revenues. If efficient, they could also boost domestic growth and credit ratings. A spate of sovereign wealth funds are opening across Africa as resource-rich countries look to manage their revenues. Nigeria and Angola have both launched funds in recent months, with Tanzania’s president Jakaya Kikwete also stating his intent to set aside revenues from new gas discoveries.
Almost every member of Opec operates a sovereign wealth fund - a state-owned investment fund - to ring-fence oil revenues and ease the impact of commodity price volatility. Now, after years of poor fiscal management and the ‘resource curse’, African countries are also looking to SWFs to save hydrocarbon revenues, diversify their wealth and boost domestic growth………………………………………..Full Article: Source

“What is a sovereign wealth fund?” asked one of my colleagues the other day. “Good question,” I countered, and then I began to stumble through a rough answer of what I could remember about these types of funds.
Checking with Investopedia I reacquainted myself with the correct answer. A sovereign wealth fund is “a pool of money derived from a country’s reserves, which are set aside for investment purposes that will benefit the country’s economy and citizens………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Angolan Sovereign Fund (FSDEA), a mechanism that was recently created by the government, announced Thursday here the main goals for the 2013/2014 biennium.
According to a note published by the institution, with the search for investment in Angola and at international level, and having the mission to promote the country’s socioeconomic development and generate wealth for the future generations of Angola, in its official launch the FSDEA assumed the commitment to functioning in a totally transparent and and responsible manner………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp said it is “not optimistic” about the outlook for the debt crisis in the eurozone, but will consider investing more in the region if countries create a more friendly environment.
Jesse Wang, an executive vice president at CIC, said Europe needed more time to increase fiscal revenues to lift itself out of the crisis. “I think the outlook for the European debt crisis is not optimistic yet,” Wang said on Sunday at a forum in Sanya in the southern tropical Hainan island………………………………..Full Article: Source

An academic study of sovereign wealth funds shows that they behave differently from other institutional investors when investing in private equity. The study, by Sofia Johan of York University in Canada, April Knill of Florida State University in the US, and Nathan Mauck of the University of Missouri in the US, examined the investments of 19 SWFs in 424 companies – both private and public – around the world between 1991 and 2010.
Similar to other institutional investors, the SWFs were less likely to invest in private equity, compared with listed companies, internationally. But unlike the others, they were more likely to invest in private equity, compared with public, in countries where investor protection was low and where bilateral political relations between the SWF and the target country were weak………………………………..Full Article: Source

Eike Batista’s net worth is $6.8 billion less than previously estimated because new details on his deal to sell a stake in his EBX Group Co. imply a lower value for his Brazilian commodities empire, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. After making repeated vows to become the richest person on the planet, Batista’s $12.7 billion fortune places him 73rd in the world, according to the ranking. He was 36th on Dec. 12.
Batista, under terms of the sale of 5.63 percent of EBX to Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Co. for $2 billion in March, agreed to cede an unspecified additional stake in his holding company in 2019 if he fails to deliver a 5 percent annual return on the sovereign-wealth fund’s investment, according to a person with knowledge of the deal………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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The chief of the Iskandar Regional Development Authority said Iskandar Malaysia in Johor will develop into a metropolis of international standing. “To grow into a big metropolis, you need the right ingredients and we have it all in Iskandar,” IRDA chief executive, Ismail Ibrahim, said.
Ismail said the Khazanah Nasional and Temasek Holdings partnership to develop parcels of land in Iskandar has spurred interest among Singaporean investors. The two sovereign wealth funds plan to build 3 billion ringgit worth of properties in Iskandar through their partnership called Pulau Indah Ventures. Ismail said the project showed confidence from Singapore, which would lead to more investments from the country and other global investors………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Many of the countries with the largest oil reserves also boast the largest sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). And yet African producers, like newcomer Ghana, Angola, and Nigeria which has been pumping oil since the 1950s, haven’t saved much of their oil revenue.
Now, in an effort to replicate the long-term growth of funds like Norway’s $600 billion Government Pension Fund accrued from North Sea riches, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority with assets somewhere around $900 billion, all of these African countries are in the process of launching their own SWFs………………………………………Full Article: Source

Cristina Alesci reports on the largest sovereign wealth funds under management. She speaks with Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television’s “Money Moves.”.………………………………………Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds have been diversifying their portfolios away from cash and moving into equities and alternative investments, says Institutional Investor, citing the International Monetary Fund’s latest Global Financial Stability Report.
Sovereign funds, like many institutional investors, appear to be moving out on the risk curve in a search for returns in today’s low interest rate environment. Australia’s Future Fund and China Investment Corp. reduced their cash holdings by more than 50 percent between December 2007 and December 2010, and increased allocations to equities, alternatives and bonds.(Slideshow)……………………………………….Full Article: Source

America’s indebtedness and repeated monetary easing is a matter of grave concern but gold offers a glimmer of hope in these times, according to China Investment Corp (CIC) president Gao Xiqing.
Gao, who runs China’s US$482 billion sovereign wealth fund, said he is “not quite convinced” about the US economic system, which he said makes the government print money to satisfy the needs of certain interest groups………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Assuming the government is right about Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to scale up its stake, why isn’t it equally right for the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) to also be allowed similar freedom in their holdings? The current Sebi regulations for FIIs allows them to hold only up to 10 per cent in the listed shares of a company. As a group they are allowed to hold up to 24 per cent in any company.
The limit can be breached up to 49 per cent by a special resolution of the board of directors of the company, provided the sectoral cap for the sector is not breached………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Qatar agreed on Monday to invest as much as 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in Italian companies, aiding efforts by Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti to breathe life into a weak economy.
Italy has joined a growing list of European states looking to tap Qatar’s vast wealth to support national industries that are struggling to finance their way out of recession. A joint venture between Italy’s strategic investment fund and state-owned Qatar Holding will invest in sectors including food, fashion and luxury goods, furniture and design, tourism and leisure, the Italian fund said in a statement on Monday……………………………………….Full Article: Source

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Europe’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s Government Pension Fund, is set to take more active role in public policy and lobbying on behalf of other institutional investors, as efforts get underway to strengthen the buyside’s voice in regulatory affairs.
In a ‘discussion note’ published yesterday outlining its new approach, the €508bn Norwegian fund said: “Up until now, the sellside, represented by major banks, has been far more active on the advocacy front.” The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, which is financed by oil revenues and managed by Norges Bank Investment Management, is so large it owns over 1% of all the companies listed on global markets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Top official at China’s £300bn sovereign wealth fund said that the depth of public anger in the eurozone could lead to a ‘complete discarding’ of austerity programmes.
Opposition to Europe’s austerity programmes intensified on Friday as a top official at China’s £300bn sovereign wealth fund warned that the public are at “breaking point” and protesters demonstrated in solidarity against the International Monetary Fund in Manila………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The chairman of China’s $482bn (£303bn) sovereign wealth fund has warned that the eurozone’s current strategy to tackle the debt crisis is “leading us up a blind alley”.
Jin Liqun, chairman of the supervisory board of the China Investment Corporation, outlined risks that China’s economy faces, including the festering crisis in the eurozone. The current strategy is leading us up a blind alley,” Jin said of efforts so far by European policymakers to solve the crisis………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A top official with China’s sovereign wealth fund has issued a blunt warning that the latest unrest across the eurozone shows austerity has stretched the public’s tolerance “to breaking point”.
Jin Liqun, chair of the supervisory board of the $480bn (£300bn) China Investment Corporation (CIC), warned that undue harshness risked a backlash which could end with necessary economic reforms being abandoned………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Slower growth in the US, eurozone and China would have knock-on effects in the GCC, but the region is “insulated” from potential global economic shocks on the back of strong sovereign wealth fund assets and international reserves, according to Qatar National Bank, or QNB.
Additionally, the region’s sovereign wealth funds, or SWFs, have external assets valued at just under $1 trillion, according to the IMF. Therefore, SWF assets and international reserves collectively total over 120 per cent of regional GDP………………………………………..Full Article: Source

An increasingly unfriendly West is reportedly pushing the China Investment Corporation to look East for assets to invest in.France’s Strategic Investment Fund would consider co-investing alongside the Libyan Investment Authority in Petroplus’ plant in Normandy.
Poland’s richest man and the Qatar Investment Authority are backing a new $700 million company to invest in African and South American minerals………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s sovereign wealth fund has warned it will direct its $500 billion arsenal away from countries that are unwelcoming of Chinese investment, citing a rise in Western “protectionism”.
Lou Jiwei, the chief executive of the China Investment Corporation, said there was a rise of “protectionism in both trade and investment in some Western countries” and that the fund would direct more of its investment in the faster-growing Asian economies………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s sovereign wealth fund will focus more of its $482 billion firepower on Asia in twin bids to beat a rise in protectionism in the West and boost exposure to rapid regional growth, chairman and chief executive Lou Jiwei said.
The man charged with stewardship of a slice of the world’s largest store of foreign wealth lauded the British approach to overseas investment in public sector projects as one for the world to follow and said the policy response to Europe’s debt crisis was a reason to stay underweight bonds and stocks there………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s sovereign wealth fund will focus more of its $482 billion firepower on Asia in twin bids to beat a rise in protectionism in the West and boost exposure to rapid regional growth, chairman and chief executive Lou Jiwei said.
The man charged with stewardship of a slice of the world’s largest store of foreign wealth lauded the British approach to overseas investment in public sector projects as one for the world to follow and said the policy response to Europe’s debt crisis was a reason to stay underweight bonds and stocks there………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s $650 billion sovereign wealth fund has started asking companies it invests in to minimize their impact on rainforests, green groups said on Friday, welcoming a shift they hoped would make it rethink some deals.
The fund, one of the world’s biggest investors, made the changes to its guidelines in September without fanfare. “We hope this will mean Norway stops investing and pulls out of many companies that are damaging rainforests,” said Nils Hermann Ranum, spokesman of the Rainforest Foundation Norway………………………………………..Full Article: Source