Sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf Arab region are raising their allocations to private equity investments at a faster rate than other types of investment, US fund manager Invesco says in a new study.
“Contrary to popular perceptions these vast state funds are not piling into global property and global infrastructure projects,” Nick Tolchard, head of Invesco Middle East said. “As well as a rise in co-investment deals, over and above private equity funds we are seeing an emergence of direct private equity investments coming out of SWFs.”………………………………..Full Article: Source

The state oil fund SOFAZ — an entity that accumulates and manages Azerbaijan’s oil and gas revenues — has announced that it is still interested in property acquisitions in prime business districts of major cities around the world.
The company said that under short-term plans it plans to purchase commercial real estate in Asia. “SOFAZ has its own strategy on the purchase of real estate and related requirements. If the commercial property meets the strategy and all requirements of the fund, then SOFAZ is ready to purchase it,” the fund told Trend news agency…………………………………Full Article: Source

Real estate topped the list of sovereign wealth funds’ investments last year, overtaking commodities and financial services, according to Institutional Investor’s Sovereign Wealth Center.
Properties made up 26 percent of investments by these funds last year, up from 14 percent in 2011, according to the center’s report on investment trends by the funds released today. That’s followed by financial services and commodities, each accounting for 23 percent, down from about 30 percent a year earlier, it said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Qatar Holding LLC, a unit of the Persian Gulf emirate’s sovereign-wealth fund, agreed to buy a 40 percent stake in Milan’s newly built Porta Nuova business district to expand its Italian real estate holdings.
Qatar Holding signed a strategic partnership with Hines Italia SGR, the project’s developer, and agreed to purchase the stake through a subscription of newly issued shares, the companies said in an e-mailed statement today. While the purchase price wasn’t disclosed, they said the project is valued at about 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

In the last days of 2012, executives from Norway’s oil-rich government fund gathered in their Oslo headquarters to thrash out the details of a €2.4bn deal that would a year earlier have been an unlikely call for even the most sagacious property market observer.
The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund was about to sanction its most lavish spending spree on property – buying warehouses………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), the emirate’s sovereign wealth fund, and Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management expect to secure the $500m in financing needed to launch a real estate fund to help recapitalise stalled or semi-complete projects in Dubai by the end of 2013.
“Right now we are dealing with the licence at the DIFC [Dubai International Financial Centre]… If you mean launch as in active marketing and legally able to do it, we will hit that point right before Ramadan,” Douglas Kirkman, CEO of ICD-Brookfield Management Limited and manager of the ICD-Brookfield Dubai Real Estate Fund, said…………………………………Full Article: Source

Norwegian central bank Norges Bank, which manages the giant Government Pension Fund Global, has declared an equity stake of over 3% in German REIT alstria. The move supports calculations in Monday’s Financial Times that the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund has accelerated property acquisitions 10-fold.
Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the Norwegian oil fund, declared last week that it broke upward through the 3% equity threshold in alstria, the Hamburg-based firm’s spokesman said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s oil fund has sharply accelerated the pace of its property acquisitions as the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund seeks to establish itself as a big name in the real estate world.
In the six months to March it has increased the pace of growth in its property assets by more than 10-fold from the same period a year ago, when it was still finding its feet in the sector………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s oil fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, has sharply accelerated the pace of its property acquisitions.
The fund now has about 37.6 billion Norwegian kroner ($6.5 billion) of property assets, which form 0.9% of the $720 billion fund, up from NOK26.7 billion at the end of last year and NOK11.2 billion last September, when property represented only 0.3% of the fund, the report said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Azerbaijan’s state oil fund,SOFAZ, is not going to use gold for speculative purposes, SOFAZ Executive Director Shahmar Movsumov told reporters.According to him, speculative activity involves the purchase of gold and its sale at a higher price in the shortest possible time.
“We do not speculate. Our decision on the purchase of gold is of strategic importance. Through diversification of the state’s foreign exchange reserves we have invested some funds in gold and do not intend to sell it,” Movsumov said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Azerbaijan’s sovereign wealth fund is planning to invest around $1bn in international real estate in 2013, as it aims to diversify its portfolio, a senior official stated on April 25. The State Oil Fund of the Azerbaijan Republic (Sofaz), which started investing into foreign real estate in December, is looking mainly to invest in Asian and Australian real estate, Executive Director Shakhmar Movsumov told Reuters.
The $34bn fund, which accumulates revenue from Azeri oil and gas exports, put around $600m into real estate in 2012. Sofaz made its first international real estate investment with the GBP177.35m purchase of an office complex in St James Street, London. This was followed by investments in Paris and Moscow………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds across the globe are looking for ways to diversify their risks by expanding investments beyond traditional asset classes. In the last decade, the state oil fund SOFAZ — an entity that accumulates and manages Azerbaijan’s oil and gas revenues — has been growing rapidly both in terms of the size of assets under management and its investment structure.
Thus, the Fund as a long-term investor is seeking stability of its real estate investments and thus aims to invest in assets in developed markets with long-term profitability. It plans property acquisitions in prime business districts of major cities around the world………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) is planning to purchase real estate in three other countries. The statement came from the executive director of SOFAZ, Shahmar Movsumov. According to him, in the near future, they are expected to visit Asia.
“This year we will visit three countries - China, Korea, and Australia, and in the second half of the year will make a decision about purchasing a property in these countries. We are talking about commercial facilities,” said Movsumov not excluding the possibility of acquiring real estate in all three countries………………………………………..Full Article: Source

With private equity firms testing the limits of limited partners’ ability and willingness to fill their new-fund coffers, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are emerging as a potential source of capital to help bridge the fund-raising gap. As we point out in Bain’s Global Private Equity Report 2012, SWFs are eager to partner with a wide range of PE firms—provided general partners (GPs) understand how to work with them.
Managers of investible assets of some of the world’s richest nations, SWFs command enormous resources, which have quadrupled over the past decade to some $4.7 trillion in 2011. Increasingly, SWFs are looking to deploy assets in alternative investments, of which PE is a prime candidate………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Wealth fund’s exposure is limited, board chief says, citing good performance of investment, and sees metal’s price rising over the long term. A senior official at China Investment Corp says the US$500 billion sovereign wealth fund has exposure to gold, although “not on a big scale”, and the fund is confident that gold prices will rise in the long run owing to limited global supply.
Jin Liqun, supervisory board chief at China Investment Corp, made the comment yesterday after gold prices tumbled earlier this week, reversing a 12-year winning streak……………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Qatar Financial Centre has plans in place to buy hedge funds as part of a strategy to bolster the asset management industry based in the country. In an interview given to a local media outlet, Yousuf Al-Jaida, chief strategic development officer said the QFC is currently implementing a four-stage process to build the local asset management presence in Doha and that the strategy of buying hedge funds is part of “Wave 2”.
Al-Jaida told MENA Fund Manager that the QFC is currently implementing “Wave 1” of its strategy which centres on incentivising global asset managers to set up shop in Qatar by offering to seed new funds, with capital supplied by Qatar’s Sovereign Wealth Fund…………………………………Full Article: Source

Qatar’s aggressive sovereign wealth fund is focusing its investment strategy in Germany on companies selling in emerging markets as well as real estate, an executive board member of the Qatar Investment Authority said on Monday.
The QIA, the most active Middle East sovereign wealth fund in recent years, is estimated to be worth around $200 billion and has bought stakes in companies ranging from German sports car maker Porsche to Barclays………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) has partnered with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, a leading global investment firm, to establish a non-banking financial company (NBFC) to lend funds to Indian developers.
The real estate-focused NBFC will be the first of its kind in India and initially will have a corpus of US$150 million (S$186.19 million), reported news portal Livemint.GIC will be one of the anchor investors in the NBFC with KRR “putting capital from its balance sheet into it”, sources said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. LP (KKR), one of the world’s largest private equity (PE) firms, is joining hands with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund to set up a non-banking financial company (NBFC) that will lend funds to property developers in India as other sources of cash dry up. To begin with, the NBFC, for which the regulatory approvals are currently under way, will have a corpus of $150 million (around Rs.810 crore), said three people close to the development. This will be the first real estate-focused NBFC in India.
“Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (GIC) will be one of the anchor investors in the NBFC, while KKR is putting capital from its balance sheet into it,” said one of the two person cited above, who did not want to be identified………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds, it is no secret, have been steadily building up a war chest of funds and all signs point to an unleashing this year. What may take some by surprise is the level of their wealth and the aggressiveness by which they will deploy their assets—especially as they step up their property investments.
One example is Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, which recently acquired commercial real estate in the US, including Washington, DC. For 2012, the fund returned 13% on investments—specifically, its equity investments returned 18.1%; fixed income returned 6.7% and real estate investments, 5.8%. Its allocation consisted of 61.2% to equities, 38.1% to fixed income and 0.7% to real estate………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Future Fund chairman David Murray says it is not the role of the $63 billion fund to bail out troubled mortgage-based investment funds. Some mortgage-based investment funds have had to be frozen after they experienced an exodus of funds, following the federal government’s guarantee of bank deposits.
Market-linked funds are not covered by the guarantee. Last week, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that larger and more liquid institutions - including the major banks - could provide liquidity to various market-linked investment vehicles within the financial system by buying their securities………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Several sovereign wealth funds, mainly from the Mid East, have been active in European real estate for nearly a decade, focused mainly on London and Paris, the PIE Roundtable at MIPIM heard last week.
But many newcomers with different approaches are spreading around Europe and some $10bn annually will flow in over the next five years, according to one forecast………………………………………..Full Article: Source

At the start of 2010, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund had no property investments to speak of. Three years later, Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, which manages the oil-rich nation’s wealth through Norges Bank Investment Management, has committed around $6.7 billion to property. The investments are mainly focused on prime office and retail space in major European capitals, and Norges Bank has said it plans to spend billions more over the next decade.
The fund manager has stated that it will invest up to 5% of its $690 billion fund in real estate by 2020, coinciding with a corresponding decrease in its bond holdings. It declined to comment for this article………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds around the world are moving to diversify their portfolios, according to TheCityUK’s Sovereign Wealth Funds 2013 report, with deal transaction sizes getting smaller and emerging markets accounting for a growing share of investments.
The trend towards diversification has resulted in a 30% increase in investment into real estate globally by SWFs over the past twelve months, with information technology and consumer goods also seeing rises in allocation. The allocation increase is largely down to low bond yields in some developed countries and the volatility in equity markets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds are forecast to reach a record $5.6 trillion in assets this year, with Britain revealed as the second most popular destination for investment, according to research.
TheCityUK’s Sovereign Wealth Funds 2013 report revealed that total assets held by these funds increased for the fourth year running in 2012 to $5.2 trillion and predicts these will grow a further $400bn this year. Investment into global property jumped by 30 per cent last year to $10bn as sovereign wealth funds sought to diversify their portfolios………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bahrain sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat plans a multi-million pound investment in local projects, joining efforts to bolster the local economy. Chief executive Mahmood Al-Kooheji said the fund was targeting $150 million of investments in the kingdom in 2013 as part of efforts to deploy funds in the country and expand its domestic portfolio.
Mumtalakat, set up in 2006, holds stakes in firms in Bahrain’s non-oil sector, including Bahrain Telecommunications Co, Aluminium Bahrain and airline Gulf Air , and is one of the smaller sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf region………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund is considering investing in some of the country’s stalled property developments to help kick-start them again. Mumtalakat CEO Mahmood Hashim Al Kooheji said the company’s real estate arm, Edamah, would invest in the part-finished projects if they were commercially viable.
At least four significant developments – Bahrain Bay, Marina West, Marina Reef and the Villamar residential complex - have stalled since the onset of the financial crisis, which saw the average value of real estate in the country plummet………………………………………..Full Article: Source

U.K.-registered Gingko Tree Investment Ltd., a wholly owned unit of China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), has invested more than 1.6 billion U.S. dollars in at least four deals, including a water utility, student housing, and office buildings in London and Manchester, according to data providers that track property deals and disclosures by the companies that received the investments.
China Investment Corporation, China’s sovereign wealth fund, has also been actively investing in U.K. property and infrastructure. Last November, CIC bought Winchester House for about 400.6 million U.S. dollars. Its investments in U.K. infrastructure include small stakes in Heathrow Airport Holdings and water utility Thames Water………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s foreign-exchange regulator has been actively but discreetly investing in U.K. property and infrastructure, marking a significant shift in how the secretive manager of the world’s largest foreign-currency reserves uses its funds.
In recent years SAFE, which is responsible for investing most of China’s $3.31 trillion worth of foreign-exchange reserves, has mainly kept a low profile, taking very small positions in blue-chip stocks or allocating funds to third-party asset managers to invest on its behalf. But SAFE’s recent U.K. investments signal a new willingness to take significant direct ownership stakes, following in the footsteps of China Investment Corp., the better-known investor of Beijing’s sovereign wealth………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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James Navarro de Paz begins his news item on property investment by quoting a study undertaken by the Sovereign Investment Lab (SIB) at Bocconi University in Milan, which shows that in 2012 a record portion of sovereign wealth fund investments were in real estate assets, bringing some diversification to the typical portfolio mix of stocks and bonds.
De Paz continues by observing that the SIB report records a total of 38 property investments valued at around $10 billion (₤6.37 billion) in 2012. Although the total size of the investment is below the $13.4 billion (₤8.54 billion) achieved two years ago, it comprises a record 21 percent of the investments made by sovereign wealth funds last year. The iNVEZZ news piece quotes Andrew Rozanov , head of sovereign advisory at Permal Investment Management Services, who observes that the low yields of bonds and high volatility in the stock market have turned real estate assets into an attractive investment alternative. Rozanov points out that a property investment doesn’t just help diversify a portfolio, also it also protects against inflation. (Press Release)

CapitaLand Malaysia and Temasek Holdings will develop a $3.2 billion township with Iskandar Waterfront Holdings in Malaysia’s Danga Bay. The agreement was inked today by the three companies at Danga Bay Convention Centre, witnessed by the prime ministers of Singapore and Malaysia.
The township development is located in one of five flagship zones in Iskandar Malaysia, and is about 10km from the Johor Causeway…………………………………..Full Article: Source

Azerbaijan’s $US34 billion sovereign wealth fund plans to buy commercial real estate in Australia as part of a strategy to grow its assets Down Under, including shares in major companies and government bonds.
“We plan to travel to Australia in order to meet with the leading market participants including regulators, developers, asset owners, and overseas investors to gain deeper understanding of the market,” said the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan, or Sofaz, in an emailed response to questions from The Wall Street Journal. “This trip is planned to take place during the course of this year.”……………………………………..Full Article: Source

Azerbaijan’s $34 billion sovereign-wealth fund plans to buy commercial real estate in Australia as part of a strategy to add assets down under. “We plan to travel to Australia in order to meet with the leading market participants including regulators, developers, asset owners, and overseas investors to gain deeper understanding of the market,” said the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan, or Sofaz.
“This trip is planned to take place during the course of this year.” The former Soviet republic, known for caviar and oil, is among a growing number of foreign investors seeking out higher returns from commercial real estate in Australia………………………………………..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

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund – currently worth 3.9 trillion kroner ($0.71 billion) – has purchased American property for the first time as it continues to expand its real estate holdings. The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global announced it had bought a 49.9% stake in five office properties along the east coast of the United States: two each in New York City and Washington, DC, and one in Boston.
The properties, valued at $1.2 billion, will be managed by majority owner Tiaa-Cref, which oversees a host of retirement equity funds. The joint venture is seeking to purchase additional office properties, initially in “key east coast cities”, the announcement said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s Government Pension Fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, has entered the US real estate market by investing $600m (¤448m) in five office properties. The fund bought a 49.9 percent stake in five office buildings in Washington DC, New York and Boston after forming a joint venture with the seller, TIAA-CREF, a pension fund.The US fund will retain a 50.1 percent holding and will be responsible for managing the properties, it said.
“As the world’s largest real estate market, the US will be an important part of the fund’s long-term property portfolio,” said Karsten Kallevig, chief investment officer for real estate at the Norwegian central bank unit responsible for managing the fund’s assets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

TIAA-CREF plans to follow its sale of stakes in five U.S. office properties to Norway’s sovereign- wealth fund with joint investments in more U.S. real estate, an executive of the New York-based retirement account manager said.
The Norwegian fund was “interested in coming into the United States with an office mandate, targeting certain gateway cities which are very high on our target-market list,” Suzan Amato, managing director and head of TIAA-CREF’s global real estate joint ventures, said in a telephone interview. “So we started with these five buildings, but we plan to go shopping together with them immediately.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds see the risk-reward in European real estate as attractive, and could hit global property allocations as high as 20% of portfolios, says Pierre Vaquier, CEO of AXA Real Estate, the largest European property investment manager, which counts several such funds in its client list including the world’s biggest, the Norwegian Pension Fund.
Vaquier told PIE on the sidelines of the ULI Europe conference in Paris last week that SWFs have a global view, allocating between Asia, US and Europe. “They consider that the risk-reward basis in Europe is attractive… And depending on their experience, culture and sophistication they are looking for either core deals or risk types of situations.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds sunk a record portion of their investments into property last year as trophy assets in London, Paris and Moscow proved more attractive than low-yielding bonds or choppy stocks.
The funds made 38 property investments valued at nearly US$10 billion (Dh36.7bn) during the year, according to data released yesterday by the Sovereign Investments Lab at Bocconi University in Milan, which has tracked sovereign fund investment since 1985. While the size of the investment was smaller than the $13.4bn invested the previous year, last year’s deals represented 21 per cent of total investments, the highest percentage on record………………………………………..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 Kuwait government has completed its acquisition of Bank of America’s European headquarters for GBP£385m (US$600m) from the private equity group Evans Randall, it was reported.
Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund, has the opportunity to double the height of the site, which is leased to Credit Suisse until October 2027, and in doing so double the size of the floor space……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Australia’s state pension fund is seeking to build up its Australian infrastructure and U.S. and European property investments as it struggles to meet its mandated targets. The Future Fund said bank deleveraging after the global financial crisis meant there were still good opportunities for property investment, particularly in the stressed European and U.S. markets.
The A$82.4 billion fund increased its exposure to property, infrastructure projects and timberland over the 12 months to Dec. 31. At the end of the year, the proportion of the fund invested in property was 6.6 percent, or A$5.4 billion, from 6 percent. Australia and the U.S. account for more than A$2 billion each of that investment………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Qatar Holding, the investment arm of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, plans to build four luxury hotels - including a 150-room Harrods Hotel - on Sardinia, the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and an autonomous region of Italy. The massive one-billion-euro development project coming up on Sardinia’s Costa Smeralds is likely to be completed over the next 10 years, said Italian media reports citing Arzachena Mayor Alberto Ragnedda.
The plan also includes a 200-room family hotel for the luxury market, and two others, one in Pevero with 90 rooms and one in Razza di Juncu with 75 rooms, targeting young people, the report stated…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Qatari Diar was left pondering its options about what to do with one of the world’s most expensive housing schemes. The property arm of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund announced it had put its US$3 billion (Dh11.02bn) Chelsea Barracks project in prime central London on hold because of doubts about whether the scheme of 448 luxury flats would financially stack up.
Qatari Diar said it was “currently refining its strategy for the development of this unique site to progress and realise its vision for this important part of London”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Qatar has put its largest single investment in London, the GBP£3bn (US$4.7bn) Chelsea Barracks housing development, on hold, citing concerns about the UK economy.
A spokesperson for Qatari Diar, the property investment arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, confirmed the project, which Prince Charles lobbied to be built in his preferred architectural style, was under review. “The strategy is under review,” a Qatari Diar spokeswoman said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

With an initial capital infusion from the real estate arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., Laxfield Capital has launched a new commercial lending program. The locally based commercial mortgage origination, investment management and advisory firm will invest up to $1 billion in commercial mortgages in the United Kingdom over the next 24 months.
According to Adam Slater, managing director of Laxfield Capital, the program will fill the gap in the large-size commercial mortgage sector left by lenders currently unable to provide whole loans of more than £100 million, at up to 75% LTV, particularly outside core locations or prime assets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund has backed a 1 billion pound ($1.6 billion) lending programme for British offices, shops and warehouse property that could bring much-needed funds into a debt-starved sector.
The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, will underwrite the loans to be issued by commercial mortgage provider Laxfield Capital. The programme targets lending of up to 1 billion pounds over the next 24 months, Laxfield Capital said in a statement on Monday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds are considering investments in southern Europe despite deep and prolonged recessions and the Eurozone crisis now into its third year, the ICSC-Thomson Reuters Global Retail Real Estate Forum heard last week.
The prospect of high yields from prime retail is attracting cash-rich investors, but deals are difficult as sellers are unwilling and risks of further falls remain. Sovereign wealth funds, that derive their wealth from national oil reserves and currency stockpiles, have more than $4tr assets under management said Bruce Nutman, partner and head of retail investment at British realtor Knight Frank. Funds……………………………………….Full Article: Source

More sovereign wealth fund capital is likely to be invested in Paris property as its managers come under rising pressure to find the core assets and place growing amounts of national savings, say French property specialists. Malaysia’s PNB may be the next to jump the Channel from London following Hong Kong’s Monetary Authority and, more recently, Azerbaijan’s SOFAZ.
Olivier Gerard, President of Cushman & Wakefield France, which advised the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) on its recent acquisition – a €135m historic office asset on the Place Vendome - said Paris is next in line for sovereigtn capital previously most active in New York and London………………………………………..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