On today’s “Money Moves,” Bloomberg News puts the focus on alternative assets and places where investors are putting their money outside of the traditional stock and bond markets.……………………………………….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

Kazakhstan’s JSC Samruk-Energy plans to place $680 million in Eurobonds, according to the prospectus, which is in Interfax’s possession. Established in 2007, Samruk-Energy is part of the sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna. Its activities include producing, distributing and selling electricity and heat, as well as producing steam coal.
The lion’s share of these Eurobonds will be placed on the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE), and at least 20% will be placed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC) plans to raise about $2.9 billion in bonds. IPIC is seeking to attract fixed income investors so that it can leverage and finance more energy investments and projects. IPIC continues to invest and buy into refinery, liquefied natural gas developments, and other assets in the hydrocarbon value chain.
IPIC plans to sell $750 million in 3-year bonds and 2-part 1.65 billion in euro-denominated ($2.4 billion) debt maturing in 5.5 years and 10.5 years. The IPIC is owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Since 2012, the government of Abu Dhabi has made six equity contributions to IPIC totaling US$ 3.5 billion, the latest in 2008. To date, IPIC has not paid any dividends to the government………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Azerbaijan, the Caspian nation best known for its caviar and petroleum, is buying Australian government bonds, joining a growing list of sovereign investors acquiring debt Down Under in a trend that has seen the Aussie dollar labelled a potential safe-haven currency by the International Monetary Fund.
The former Soviet republic’s $33bn sovereign-wealth fund - the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan, or Sofaz - said it quietly started buying Australian bonds in July, at a time when market data show the Aussie dollar gained 3.4% in value over the month………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Azerbaijan, the Caspian nation best known for its caviar and petroleum, is buying Australian government bonds, joining a growing list of sovereign investors acquiring debt Down Under in a trend that has seen the Aussie dollar labelled a potential safe-haven currency by the International Monetary Fund.
The former Soviet republic’s $US33 billion ($31.5 billion) sovereign-wealth fund—the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan, or Sofaz—said it quietly started buying Australian bonds in July at a time when market data show the Aussie dollar gained 3.4 per cent in value over the month………………………………………..Full Article: Source

BlackRock is to launch its first foray into the global infrastructure debt market. Investors say the entry into the market by BlackRock, the giant fund manager with $3.67tn under management, will encourage other asset managers, pension funds and even sovereign wealth funds to invest in infrastructure.
The Kuwait Investment Authority, the world’s oldest sovereign wealth fund and one of the biggest globally, has signalled that it will invest in this market. But it wants to see big groups, such as BlackRock, and pension funds launch operations first………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi fund manager Invest AD is launching its first fixed income fund, breaking from its historical focus on equity products, with the aim of taking advantage of opportunities in region’s debt markets.
The fund, launched on Monday, will be managed by Dilawer Farazi, who joined the firm from Man Group’s GLG Partners in April and target corporate and sovereign debt in the Middle East and Africa. The Luxembourg-domiciled fund was seeded with $25m from Invest AD and will focus on US dollar-denominated debt………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi-based asset manager Invest AD launched a new Middle East and Africa focused on fixed income fund on Monday, seeking to tap potential for significant returns in the fast-growing emerging markets.
Despite a recent rally on emerging market bonds globally, where yields on some regional bonds fell to historic lows, many are still undervalued relative to the underlying credit quality of issuers, analysts say………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The fund manager spun out of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund is launching an African equities fund together with Moroccan bank Attijariwafa, seeking to take advantage of Africa’s “economic emergence”. Abu Dhabi-based Invest AD has signed a memorandum of understanding with Attijariwafa that will see the two launch an equity fund and help each other source new business.
The firms will jointly seed the African equities fund, which will be co-managed by Invest AD and Attijariwafa’s fund management unit, Wafa Gestion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s loan to potash billionaire Suleiman Kerimov should give the world’s biggest buyer of the crop nutrient its first access to the global suppliers who dominate fertilizer makers.
The China Investment Corp. sovereign wealth fund last week agreed to buy bonds from the investor and his partners that they can repay in 2014 with a 12.5 percent stake in OAO Uralkali, the world’s largest potash producer. The deal underscored a contest for potash assets two weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT) had proposed buying Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) to usurp Uralkali………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Billionaire Suleiman Kerimov and his partners in OAO Uralkali (URKA), the largest potash producer, sold bonds to China’s sovereign wealth fund and VTB Capital that can be exchanged for shares valued at about $3.2 billion.
Chengdong Investment Corp., a unit of CIC International Co., and Moscow-based VTB Capital bought bonds from the shareholders that mature in 2014 and are exchangeable into a 14.5 percent stake in Uralkali, the fertilizer producer said today in a statement. Uralkali had a market value of about $22 billion as of yesterday’s close………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The main owners of Russia’s Uralkali have sold bonds exchangeable into shares worth about $3-billion (U.S.) in a deal that could give a Chinese sovereign wealth fund a stake in the world’s largest potash miner by output. Uralkali said on Friday that the bonds had been sold to Chengdong Investment Corp., a subsidiary of China’s CIC, and to VTB Capital, a subsidiary of the country’s No. 2 bank VTB.
The bonds are due in 2014 and exchangeable into a 14.5-per-cent stake in Uralkali worth more than $3-billion at current prices. China’s CIC could exchange its bonds into a 12.5-per-cent stake and VTB to a stake of 2 per cent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The China Investment Corporation, China’s sovereign wealth fund, said Friday that it has purchased exchangeable bonds from Wadge Holdings Ltd, which is owned by the key shareholders of Russian company Uralkali, the world’s largest potash miner.
The bonds are exchangeable into shares of Uralkali, the statement said, on condition that CIC’s share will not be more than 12.5 percent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oman’s sovereign wealth fund has offered to buy the bonds of Blue City, the ill-fated, $20bn Omani property project, marking the latest twist in one of the region’s biggest and longest-running distressed debt deals.
Onyx Investments, part of the Oman Investment Fund, has made a tender offer for 35 cents on the dollar for the class B senior subordinated notes that are due in 2016, according to documentation seen by the Financial Times. The Oman Investment Fund could not be reached for comment………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kazakh Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna Head Umirzak Shukeyev has advised the people to buy at least 20 shares in KazTransOil under the “People’s IPO” program. Shukeyev said this during KazTransOil roadshow on Tuesday.
“I advise to buy at least 20-30 shares to feel the profit from participating in “People’s IPO” project,” Shukeyev said. The People’s IPO will allow Kazakh citizens to become co-owners of the biggest national companies………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Subscription for KazTransOil shares within the People’s IPO Program on the first day totals $1.2 million, Newskaz.ru reports, citing Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund Vice Chairman Kuandyk Bishimbayev.
The number of broker’s accounts as of November 6, 2012 reached nearly 250 000. The subscription will be open until December 5, 2012. According to the Government regulation, the share price shall be 725 tenge ($4.8). The number of shares to be floated stands at 38 464 559………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s $660 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, increased its purchases of emerging market debt to make Mexico its No. 10 bond investment, after reducing holdings of French and Spanish government notes.
The Government Pension Fund Global is moving asset allocation away from Europe as markets in Asia and South America gain a bigger share of global output. The Oslo-based investor raised its bond holding denominated in emerging market currencies to 8 percent of its fixed-income portfolio last quarter, from 1.5 percent at the end of last year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global Logistic Properties Ltd. , a warehouse operator majority owned by a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, is looking to raise up to $1.5 billion by listing some of its properties in Japan, in what could be the second-biggest initial public offering in that country this year, a person with knowledge of the deal said Friday.
The Singapore-listed company, which is 50.6% owned by the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., plans to complete the IPO for its Japanese real-estate investment corporation, also known as a J-REIT, by the end of this year, the person said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The “Samruk-Kazyna” Board of Directors has approved the offering price for KazTransOil notes within the “People’s IPO” at 725 tenge per share. The order book for people’s shares of KazTransOil closes on November 6.
According to the approved IPO procedure for KazTransOil, priority will be granted to filling orders of the market-maker in order to maintain prices for buying and selling the shares. Among investors, priority will be given to retail investors – the citizens of Kazakhstan – followed by the acceptance of orders from domestic pension funds………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s central bank said it won’t buy any foreign currency for its $650 billion sovereign wealth fund next month amid changes in the nation’s strategy to hedge against overheating.
The decision sent the krone higher, and Norway’s currency rose as much as 0.7 percent against the euro to trade at 7.3961 as of 12:26 p.m. in Oslo. Versus the dollar, the krone soared as much as 1 percent to trade at 5.6818. The gains made the krone today’s best-performing major currency against the euro, the dollar and the yen………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kazakhstan’s oil pipeline monopoly aims to raise $186 million in a share offering designed to attract private investors, the head of the country’s sovereign wealth fund said on Tuesday.
KazTransOil’s will launch an initial public offering (IPO) of 10 percent of the company minus one share by the end of the year, becoming the first state-run enterprise to take part in the former Soviet republic’s “People’s IPO” programme. The company will sell shares at 725 tenge ($4.81), with priority given to local retail investors, said Umirzak Shukeyev, chief executive of the sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kazakhstan’s Samruk-Kazyna has set a price of KZT725 ($4.82) per share for the upcoming IPO of oil transportation company KazTransOil, valuing the 10% stake at $186m. The sovereign wealth fund also confirmed the schedule on another nine so-called “people’s IPOs” over the next three years.
The book will open on the float of the KazTransOil stake on November 6, close on December 5, with a settlement period lasting up to December 14, the Samruk-Kazyna board of directors agreed October 29. “The offering price implies a P/E [price/earnings] ratio of around 11.2x, based on 2011 net profit of US$172m (KZT25.9bn),” Visor Capital writes………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Around half a million Kazakhs can take part in the People’s IPO programme, the chairman of the board of the Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund (NWF) Umirzak Shukeyev, stated on Tuesday during his speech at a government meeting.
“According to the results of our survey, 7.3 per cent of respondents announced their intention to buy shares in national companies. Given this data, the potential of participation in the programme can be assessed at the level of 500,000 people,” Shukeyev said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s $650 billion wealth fund, the world’s largest, now has to buy stocks as they slump. The government this month codified that the fund, which goes by the official name of the Government Pension Fund Global, has to buy stocks when markets are falling as part of a strategy it calls re-balancing.
The process will be triggered when the fund’s stock weighting deviates more than 4 percentage points from its 60 percent mandated level at the end of a month………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Azerbaijan’s $33 billion oil fund has bought 3 billion Russian roubles ($100 million) and deposited it in Russia’s Gazprombank to help diversify its assets, the fund said.
“The fund plans to increase investment in financial instruments in Russian roubles,” it said in a press release.The fund said earlier this year it would spend $400-$500 million to buy Russian roubles in 2012………………………………………..Full Article: Source

According to the “Investment Policy of the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan” up to 5 percent of the Fund’s assets can be invested in assets denominated in Turkish Lira and Russian Ruble. In the framework of the Investment policy first investments were made to the assets denominated in Turkish Lira during the current year and appropriate preparations to start investments in Russian Ruble have been completed.
On October 19, 2012 SOFAZ has invested RUB 3 billion (USD 100 million approximately) into the short term deposit at one of the biggest banks in Russia, Gazprombank………………………………………..Full Article: Source

According to the “Investment Policy of the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan” up to 5% of the Fund’s assets can be invested in assets denominated in Turkish Lira and Russian Ruble.
In the framework of the Investment policy first investments were made to the assets denominated in Turkish Lira during the current year and appropriate preparations to start investments in Russian Ruble have been completed. On October 19, 2012 SOFAZ has invested RUB 3 billion (USD 100 million approximately) into the short term deposit at one of the biggest banks in Russia, Gazprombank………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Utilizing fund-of-funds can be beneficial for sovereign investors who lack large internal staff dedicated to alternatives. Many sovereign investors need the capability to have exposure to an asset class quickly.
Clearly, there is a trend of direct investing into hedge funds, but public investors also understand they might not have the research capabilities or skill to find or manage such investments. The fund-of-funds industry has been criticized for high fees and lackluster returns in recent years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s Central Bank has recently granted a 6.5 billion Yuan ($1 billion) license to Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) to invest in the domestic interbank bond market, KIA Managing Director Bader Al-Saad said Thursday.
Kuwait’s news agency (KUNA) quoted Al-Saad as saying that the KIA has also fully invested an initial quota of $300 million in the Chinese securities market after Beijing’s approval in March. He added that the investment authority will request for the balance of $700 million allocation from the Chinese authorities shortly, hoping the request would be approved by China at an opportune time………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kazakhstan’s oil pipeline monopoly, KazTransOil, plans to raise 30 billion tenge ($199 million) via an initial public offering as part of the country’s People’s IPO program, a senior sovereign wealth fund official said Friday.
The government plans to invigorate the small local stock market and raise about $500 million from a first round of IPOs, which will see company stakes of 5 to 15 percent sold to retail investors and local pension funds. KazTransOil’s IPO is set to be held by the end of this year, Kuandyk Bishimbayev, deputy head of the sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna, said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China would be interested in buying Eurobonds backed by core euro zone countries but considers it unrealistic to invest in bonds issued by heavily indebted European countries, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing China Investment Corp.’s (CIC) supervisory board chairman.
“It’s not realistic to expect any Chinese investor, CIC included, to buy the bonds, which are not safe,” Jin Liqun told Reuters on the sidelines of an investment conference in Moscow………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Chinese investors will not buy into bonds issued by debt-ridden euro zone countries until their fundamental problems are solved, a senior official with China’s $480 billion sovereign wealth fund said on Tuesday.
Jin Liqun, chairman of the supervisory board of the China Investment Corporation (CIC), said it is unlikely that the debt problems bedevilling euro zone countries will be solved until Europe is in super-critical situation. “There will be no solution, until there is no way out,” Jin said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

One of China’s largest sovereign wealth funds is likely to increase its private equity and alternatives allocation to as much as 70% over the next decade and take a more strategic approach to investments, according to new research.
China Investment Corporation, which currently invests about a quarter of its portfolio in private equity and alternatives, is likely to raise that threshold significantly in the coming years, according to a report published on Tuesday by consultancy Z-Ben Advisors………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat priced a 300 million ringgit ($97.7m) five-year sukuk on September 7 via Standard Chartered and CIMB Islamic. The murabaha-structured deal is the first by the AA2 (Ram) rated borrower in the ringgit market and has been issued off its three billion ringgit sukuk programme.
Mumtalakat went on investor meetings in the summer but held back from issuing because basis swaps were not favourable for Gulf borrowers at the time………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) will purchase Russian rubles until the end of the year, the executive director of SOFAZ Shakhmar Movsumov reported to the journalists on Wednesday.
To minimize risks, negotiations are being carried out with a number of Russian banks. Specific information on the purchase will be given upon reaching agreement. Movsumov said that the Fund already purchased an undisclosed amount of Australian dollars and Turkish liras………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Many Americans may not realize it, but there is a massive amount of money sitting in sovereign wealth funds. To be precise, the world’s sovereign wealth funds hold almost $5.1 trillion, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
Not surprisingly, the primary funding source for these vehicles comes by way of oil and gas resources. For investors, how a country’s sovereign wealth fund is funded is not as important as knowing that the fund exists. While it may be difficult to measure the qualitative impact of sovereign wealth funds, these vehicles can serve as a backstop for the countries that have them in times of economic tumult………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Russia is planning to launch a new state-owned investment agency next year to invest the country’s oil wealth in global financial markets, finance minister Anton Siluanov tells Euromoney in an exclusive interview.
The new Federal Financial Agency (FFA) will invest excess government revenue generated from high oil prices in a more diverse range of domestic and international securities, including bonds and equities for the first time, under an investment strategy similar in part to that employed by the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund (SWF)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Azerbaijan dismissed media reports it plans to buy Hungarian bonds, leaving Budapest to continue an extended search for new sovereign investors to help it cut uncomfortably high borrowing costs. Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Budapest told a newspaper the reports were “nonsensical”, while the country’s oil fund denied it had any such investment plans. Budapest had also denied the speculation.
“The state oil fund … is not considering any investment into debt obligations or other financial tools in Hungary,” it said in a statement on its website……………………………………..Full Article: Source

Falls in the Australian market have further reduced the share of the nation’s sovereign wealth fund tied up in Australian equities over the last quarter. The Future Fund board of guardians said yesterday it had returned 2.1 per cent in the last financial year — with total assets now valued at $77.01 billion — although on a five-year average the returns are at 4.4 per cent. At June 30 the fund held 10.4 per cent of its assets, or $7.98bn, in domestic equities. This compares to 11 per cent, or $8.48bn, at March 31.
“We made no changes to the Aussie equity program over the quarter. The change is just a result of market falls,” a spokesman said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The federal government is looking at issuing a Eurobond worth up to $1 billion next year to fund its power and gas sector reforms, taking advantage of the country’s likely inclusion in a JP Morgan emerging market index Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.
She also said that her long-term target was to scrap the country’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) and replace it with a planned sovereign wealth fund. “Ideally you would want to fold the two into one and that is our ultimate objective but for now I think the two in the short-medium term will run side-by-side until everybody gets comfortable with the sovereign wealth fund.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The local interest rate market will be focusing on international events this week, particularly the annual central banker’s bash at Jackson Hole, Wyoming where Fed boss Ben Bernanke will be delivering a major speech on “monetary policy since the GFC”.
My view is that Asian central banks and sovereign wealth funds will be somewhat less keen to be aggressive buyers of NZ Government bonds over coming months compared to the lumpy investment inflows from them witnessed earlier this year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Many Americans may not realize it, but there is a massive amount of money sitting in sovereign wealth funds. To be precise, the world’s sovereign wealth funds hold almost $5.1 trillion, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
Not surprisingly, the primary funding source for these vehicles comes by way of oil and gas resources. For investors, how a country’s sovereign wealth fund is funded is not as important as knowing that the fund exists. While it may be difficult to measure the qualitative impact of sovereign wealth funds, these vehicles can serve as a backstop for the countries that have them in times of economic tumult………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Sovereign wealth funds are increasingly interested in buying China’s domestic bonds to get a bigger foot in the world’s second largest economy, benefit from good yields and diversify their exposure to more currencies.
Despite concerns over China’s slowing growth, the giant industry, which manages countries’ windfall revenues for future generations, is taking advantage of the gradual opening up to foreign investors of its mainland bond market worth over $3 trillion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds are increasingly interested in buying China’s domestic bonds to get a bigger foot in the world’s second largest economy, benefit from good yields and diversify their exposure to more currencies.
Despite concerns over China’s slowing growth, the giant industry, which manages countries’ windfall revenues for future generations, is taking advantage of the gradual opening up to foreign investors of its mainland bond market worth over $3 trillion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Morocco plans to sell a sovereign bond worth $1 billion in October to help finance budgeted investment plans. “We have decided to sell sovereign bonds worth 700 million euros or $1 billion in October,” Budget Minister Idriss Azami al-Idrissi said.
Last week, King Mohammed urged his government to tap financing from Gulf Arab sovereign wealth funds to help with projects Morocco hopes will help it meet pressing social needs. Idrissi however said Rabat’s likely intention to have the issue denominated in U.S. dollar does not aim to address exclusively preferences of the Gulf Arab region…………………………………………Full Article: Source

The Abu Dhabi government-owned group Invest AD has launched two Ucits-compliant equity funds investing in Africa and the Middle East in response to growing demand from global investors for high regulatory standards.
Until recently the group owned by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council sovereign wealth fund only offered funds domiciled in the Cayman Islands but has now launched Ucits versions of the Invest AD Emerging Africa Fund and the Invest AD GCC Focus Fund………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding, the investment arm for Bahrain’s non-oil and gas commercial assets, is lining up roadshows in Kuala Lumpur.
The sovereign wealth fund is looking to establish a MR3bn ($952.3m) murabaha sukuk programme despite having said only recently that it had no plans to issue new debt. CIMB and Standard Chartered will act as joint leads for the sale………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Singapore sovereign fund GIC has raised its cash holdings over the past year and says it will look to take calculated investment risks in what it sees as a challenging medium-term environment.
This could mean increased allocation to alternatives, including private equity and real estate, which has been a growing focus for the Government Investment Corporation, investment manager for the city-state’s foreign reserves………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC on Tuesday said its long-term returns held steady in the year to March but it had changed its investment mix amid fears of greater volatility ahead.
In an annual report, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation said it reduced its exposure in developed markets, cut its holdings in equities and bonds, and started building up cash holdings for future opportunities………………………………………..Full Article: Source