Many of Asia’s biggest investors are cutting their holdings of risky assets, worried about the weak economy in the U.S. and the debt crisis in Europe.
Asia’s big sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors, who collectively control about $1 trillion, are reducing their investments in stocks and in some cases bonds and boosting their cash stakes………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Government of Singapore Investment Corp. has reduced its exposure in developed markets and cut its holdings in equities and bonds, as global uncertainties continue to weigh on the sovereign-wealth fund’s investment strategy.
GIC, which manages Singapore’s foreign-exchange reserves, said Tuesday in its annual report for the fiscal year ended March 31 that it now has increased cash in its portfolio and that it expects investment returns to be low till the global economy returns to “balanced and sustainable growth.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi asset manager Invest A.D. has launched two UCITS-compliant funds, which invest in Africa and the Arabian Gulf, to meet growing global demand for high-quality investment products to tap frontier market growth.
The Invest A.D. Emerging Africa Fund and the Invest A.D. GCC Focus Fund are registered in Luxembourg, and the asset manager is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. Invest A.D.’s portfolio managers, who have built track records for the predecessor portfolios as Cayman Islands-registered vehicles, manage the funds from the Dubai International Financial Centre, travelling regularly to countries they invest in………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Abraaj Capital has announced the exit of its investment in IHH through an initial public offering (IPO). Approximately $2 billion was raised in the offering, making it the third largest IPO to date this year.
Cornerstone investors, such as Blackrock, Capital Group, Fullerton Fund Management Company (Temasek), the government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), Employees Provident Fund Board, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) accounted for 62 per cent of the share offering………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund that owns stakes in more than 35 companies, does not plan to sell new debt at the moment, its CEO told Alayam newspaper.
The fund, which manages US$8.8bn in assets, will look to reduce debt levels and extend the repayment period, Mahmood Al Kooheji told the newspaper………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Four sovereign wealth funds, including Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and China Investment Corp, have agreed to invest in the initial public offering of Reliance Communications Ltd’s undersea cable unit Global Telecommunication Infrastructure Trust.
Four souvereign wealth funds from Singapore, the Middle East and China have confirmed particiation of USD 250 to 300 million in the GTI Trust’s IPO, sources privy to the development said. Besides Temasek and CIC, Investment Corp of Dubai too has confirmed participation in Global Telecommunications Infrastructure Trust’s public offering in Singapore………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Reliance Communications’ undersea cable unit has extended the bookbuilding period for its Singapore business trust IPO, worth up to $1 billion, until Friday, IFR reported. IFR said a sovereign fund from the Middle East and a Singapore-based institutional investor have shown a significant interest in the deal.
A source familiar with the process told Reuters that the company had received confirmation from four sovereign wealth funds to invest a total of more than $250 million in the IPO. Separately, Bloomberg cited three unnamed people with knowledge of the matter as saying Temasek and China Investment Corp had agreed to invest in the IPO………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Temasek Holdings Pte and China Investment Corp. agreed to invest in Global Telecommunications Infrastructure Trust’s initial public offering in Singapore, said three people with knowledge of the matter.
GTI Trust (GTI), the undersea cable unit of Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM), is selling $250 million to $300 million of stock to four sovereign wealth funds as part of the IPO, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified as the details are private. It wasn’t immediately clear how much Temasek or CIC invested………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Temasek Holdings has sold US$1.7 billion worth of US dollar bonds in an offering that was heavily oversubscribed, allowing it to raise long-term funds at record-low interest rates. It received orders totalling US$7.6 billion - some 4.5 times the original size of the offer - from institutional investors worldwide.
The strong demand allowed Temasek to price the bonds - issued in two tranches - at lower yields than originally expected………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Temasek Holdings will sell a total of US$1.7 billion (S$2.14 billion) in bonds at yields slightly below its initial guidance as orders swelled to US$7.6 billion, underscoring investor confidence in the Singapore investment giant.
Temasek will sell US$1.2 billion in 10.5-year bonds priced at a yield to maturity of 2.466 per cent, which is a spread of 100 basis points over 10-year benchmark United States Treasuries, it said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings will sell a total of $1.7 billion in 10.5-year and 30-year bonds at yields slightly below its initial guidance.
Temasek will sell $1.2 billion in 10.5-year bonds priced at a yield to maturity of 2.466 percent per annum, which is a spread of 100 basis points over 10-year benchmark U.S. Treasuries, the Singapore sovereign investor said in a statement……………………………………….Full Article: Source

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Temasek Financial on Monday set a fresh record low coupon of 3.375% for a US dollar-denominated 30-year bond, coming inside the 3.60% achieved by agribusiness Monsanto Co just a week ago.
The company, which is guaranteed by Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government’s investment arm and one of the few Triple A-rated institutions left in the world, sold US$1.7 billion of debt in a two-part deal comprising 10.5-year and 30-year notes……………………………………….Full Article: Source

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Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. sold $1.7 billion worth of bonds Monday in a two-part deal, according to a person familiar with the offering. The Singapore state-owned bank priced $1.2 billion of 2.375% coupon, 10.5-year bonds at 2.466%, or 1.0 percentage point more than Treasurys, and $500 million of 3.375% coupon, 30-year bonds at 3.502%, a spread of 0.95 percentage point.
The offered yield on each fell from earlier pricing guidance, indicating strong demand……………………………………….Full Article: Source

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Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings said today it will launch a dual tranche bond offering, comprising 10.5-year and 30-year bonds, as it returns to the debt market after an absence of two years.
Temasek did not state the issue size, but benchmark issues typically exceed $500 million. It said proceeds will be used by “Temasek and its investment holding companies to fund their ordinary course of business.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Malaysia government-backed hospital operator IHH Healthcare Bhd. has raised about $2.0 billion in the world’s third largest initial public offering so far this year, becoming the latest Southeast Asian company to raise funds thanks to strong backing from sovereign wealth and pension funds.
The company, partly owned by the investment holding arm of Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd., attracted 22 cornerstone investors who have committed to buying 62% of the total shares on offer. Sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority, Government of Singapore Investment Corp., a unit of Singapore state-investment company Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. and International Finance Corp., an investment arm of the World Bank., are among the cornerstone investors in the IPO………………………………………..Full Article: Source

IHH Healthcare Bhd , Asia’s largest hospital operator, is expected to achieve a rich pricing on Thursday ahead of its up to $2.2 billion listing as strong investor interest reinforces Malaysia’s gloom-defying IPO market this year.
IHH, behind only Facebook Inc and Malaysia’s Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd’s in market debut size this year, has attracted investors ranging from sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority to International Finance Corp , the private investment arm of the World Bank………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Russia may aim at having a stocks to bonds ratio at 1 to 2 in its sovereign wealth funds, using Norway’s pension fund’s structure as an example, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said Tuesday.
“The agency (for managing the funds) will be able to invest in shares,” he said, stressing that the question is still open whether it would only hold shares in foreign companies, or if the agency would be able to buy Russian companies’ shares as well in the future, once it’s formed………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Russia may aim at having a stocks to bonds ratio at 1 to 2 in its sovereign wealth funds, using Norway’s pension fund’s structure as an example, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said Tuesday.
“The agency (for managing the funds) will be able to invest in shares,” he said, stressing that the question is still open whether it would only hold shares in foreign companies, or if the agency would be able to buy Russian companies’ shares as well in the future, once it’s formed………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Halyk Bank , Kazakhstan’s second-largest lender by assets, said it intended to buy back its remaining state-held shares on Thursday, in a sign of recovering health after the financial crisis.
Halyk, part-owned by the family of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, was among four Kazakh banks bailed out by the state via the country’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna in 2009. Samruk-Kazyna held 11.55 percent of shares, and minor Halyk shareholders another 9.59 percent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Malaysia launched on Tuesday the $2 billion initial public offering of state-backed hospital operator IHH Healthcare Bhd, marking the third biggest listing of the year globally and cementing its status as Asia’s top IPO destination for 2012.
Sovereign wealth fund the Kuwait Investment Authority, asset manager Blackrock and 20 other big “cornerstone” investors have committed to buy nearly two-thirds of the shares on offer. Khazanah Managing Director Azman Mokhtar said the listing would value its stake in IHH at 11 billion ringgit, an 83 percent jump from its equivalent investment cost of some 6 billion ringgit………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is the latest to join the China queue — with all the muscle at its disposal. The Middle East biggie is ready to invest up to $5 billion (Dh18.37 billion) in the yuan denominated A-share and IPO market, far in excess of the $1 billion allowed for single foreign investors in China.
This faith reposed by global investors in China should ideally be cause for celebration, but strangely, the advent of foreign funds is getting cold and even hostile reception………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) will invest about US$150 million (RM477.8 million) in Malaysian firm IHH Healthcare’s planned US$2 billion (RM6.4 billion) IPO in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal said.
The investment is poised to make KIA the second-biggest investor in the Malaysian healthcare firm’s IPO. It will be the fund’s biggest investment in an Asian flotation since it poured US$800 million (RM2.5 billion) into Agricultural Bank of China’s US$21 billion (RM66.9 billion) offering in 2010………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) will invest about $150 million in Malaysian firm IHH Healthcare’s planned $2 billion IPO in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal said.
The investment is poised to make KIA the second-biggest investor in the Malaysian healthcare firm’s IPO. It will be the fund’s biggest investment in an Asian flotation since it poured $800 million into Agricultural Bank of China’s $21 billion offering in 2010………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Corp and Malaysia’s largest pension fund have agreed to become cornerstone investors in the planned US$2-billion (S$2.6-billion) initial public offering (IPO) of IHH Healthcare in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, a source said.
The source said KIA has agreed to invest US$150 million, while Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund is planning to pour in US$200 million………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Kuwait sovereign-wealth fund will invest $150 million in IHH Healthcare, while Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund, or EPF, will put in $200 million, the person said.
The International Finance Corp., an investment arm of the World Bank, said on its website that its board has approved investing in the IPO, but didn’t provide details. An IFC spokesman declined to comment further……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority will invest about $150 million in Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare’s planned $2 billion initial public offering in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal said.
Malaysia’s pension fund EPF will separately invest about $200 million in the deal, sources said. This is Kuwait fund’s biggest investment in an Asian IPO after it poured $800 million in Agriculture Bank of China’s $21 billion IPO in 2010………………………………………..Full Article: Source

IHH Healthcare’s US$2 billion (S$2.56 billion) listing has secured a strong cast of cornerstone investors including the Government of Singapore Investment, Temasek unit Fullerton Fund Management and Blackrock, sources said.
The dual listing of Asia’s largest hospital operator, slated for the Malaysian and Singapore bourses by the end of next month, comes as a string of initial public offerings have been delayed or scrapped because of investor worries about Europe’s debt crisis and China’s slowing economy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Blackrock Inc, Capital Group and Och-Ziff Capital Management Group have emerged as cornerstone investors in the $2 billion listing of Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare Bhd, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the flotation.
The other cornerstone investors are Singapore sovereign wealth fund Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, Fullerton Fund Management, AIA Group and Hwang Investment Management, the sources said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Malaysia’s state-backed Integrated Healthcare Holdings (IHH), which operates hospitals in Asia, is trying to rope in Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund as a cornerstone investor in its $2 billion dual listing in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, sources said.
The Middle Eastern investor will be part of more than 10 cornerstones that IHH hopes to finalise by next week who will take up over 40 percent of the $2 billion offering, sources with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters on Wednesday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Integrated Healthcare Holdings (IHH), which operates hospitals in Asia, is trying to rope in Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund as a cornerstone investor in its US$2bil (RM6.35bil) dual listing in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, sources said.
The Middle Eastern investor would be part of more than 10 cornerstones that IHH hoped to finalise by next week who would take up over 40% of the US$2bil offering, sources with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China Development Bank Corp. plans to sell 10 billion yuan (1.58 billion dollar) to CNY20 billion worth of bonds soon via a private placement, two people familiar with the situation said.
The bank, China’s biggest bond issuer after the Ministry of Finance, is owned by the ministry, Central Huijin Investment Ltd., a domestic investment arm of China’s sovereign wealth fund, and China’s national pension fund………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway, what happened? Along with Sweden, Norway and the other Scandinavian countries were expected to be lights among the darkness that is the Euro Zone. After all, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have on primary advantage: They’re not Euro Zone members.
“We love the investment opportunities in Norway and the Scandinavian area in general,” Street One Financial President Scott Freeze told Benzinga in an interview. “Specific to Norway - they are one of the top oil exporters in the world, have the second highest sovereign wealth fund, and the highest standard of living in the world. They have very low unemployment and are not part of the euro, so they give you the ability to get European exposure without having exposure to the euro.”………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Malaysia’s state investor Khazanah Nasional Bhd plans to offer up to 1.8 billion new shares in the listing of its healthcare unit, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter, in a move that could raise close to US$2 billion (RM6 billion).
The dual listing, slated to debut in Malaysian and Singapore bourses by the end of July, comes at a time when many initial public offerings (IPOs) are being postponed due to worries about a deteriorating global economy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Manabi SA, the first Brazilian iron- ore company to go public since 2006, is counting on Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to spark investor interest in its share sale after Brazil’s benchmark stock index entered a bear market.
Rio de Janeiro-based Manabi filed on May 16 to sell shares in Sao Paulo and Toronto to help finance $4.12 billion of iron ore projects in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. Canada’s third- biggest pension fund is Manabi’s top investor with a 21 percent holding, while South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund and Southeastern Asset Management also have stakes in the company………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The owners of Formula One motor racing are shunning ultra-wealthy government-backed investment funds as they attempt to sell billions of pounds worth of shares in the sport, sources said Tuesday.
The bankers working for CVC Capital Partners, F1’s controlling shareholder, held talks in the last week with dozens of potential investors as F1 races towards a Singapore flotation that will value it at more than £6.5 billion ($10 billion)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings, which sells BMWs and Toyotas in China, said Monday it has scrapped its plan to raise up to US$433 million in an initial public offering in Hong Kong owing to deteriorating equity markets, in the biggest IPO casualty of weak markets in Asia this year.
The postponement is noteworthy because Yongda had secured US$150 million of cornerstone investment from Baring Private Equity Asia V Holding Ltd. and Oman sovereign wealth fund Oman Investment Fund………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The planned US$1.5 billion listing of Malaysia’s Integrated Healthcare Holdings (IHH) is expected to debut on the Malaysian and Singapore bourses by the end of July, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The dual listing would be the fourth-biggest initial public offering (IPO) in the city state’s history and Malaysia’s second-largest this year after the planned listing of Malaysian plantation group Felda Global Venture Holdings………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Gao Xiqing, president of China Investment Corp., said the nation’s sovereign wealth fund has stopped buying European government debt on concerns about the region’s financial turmoil.
CIC will continue to look for new investments in Europe as part of its strategy to boost allocations to infrastructure, private-equity assets as well as emerging markets to help boost returns, Gao said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China Investment Corp. has stopped buying European government debt because of an economic crisis on the continent, though it continues to look for new investments there, said CIC President Gao Xiqing.
“What is happening in Europe right now is of course of concern,” Gao said Wednesday in an interview in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the World Economic Forum on Africa. “We still have our people looking at opportunities in Europe, even though we don’t want to buy any government bonds.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Nuvest Capital aims to raise $1 billion by the first year of operations as its founder and Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) veteran Aje Saigal looks to build his record outside the world’s eighth-largest sovereign wealth fund.
Singapore-based Nuvest will launch a global multi-asset fund with an emphasis on emerging markets by July with seed money from GIC, Saigal said in an interview, confirming a Reuters report in February about his plans………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) has announced a 4-fold drop of yield in its assets placement. SOFAZ executive director Shahmar Movsumov stated in an interview with newspaper Respublika, the official organ of the Cabinet Ministers of Azerbaijan, that in 2005-9 yield in Fund’s assets placement was at 3.69% and in 2010-11 it dropped to 0.91%.
“As a result, after changing the investment strategy, in 2012 the Fund was allowed to invest up to 15% of its assets in equities, gold and real estate. Currently SOFAZ started investing in physical gold, and during this year it will start investing in real estate,” Movsumov said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund sold all its Irish and Portuguese government bonds after rejecting the Greek debt swap and warned that Europe faces considerable challenges.
The $610 billion Government Pension Fund Global returned 7.1 percent, or 234 billion kroner ($41 billion), as measured by a basket of currencies, in the first quarter, the Oslo-based investor said today. Its equity holdings gained 11 percent while its fixed-income investments rose 1.6 percent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s $600 billion sovereign wealth fund walked away from Europe’s struggling economies in the first quarter, dumping much of its holdings in battered euro zone government bonds.
The fund sold holdings of Portuguese and Irish government bonds in the quarter, and reduced its investments in government debt from countries including Italy and Spain, it said. Instead it bought bonds issued in local currencies in emerging markets such as Brazil, Mexico and India………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank, majority owned by the country’s sovereign wealth fund, on Monday said it was suspending payment on recovery notes with a reference value of $5.2 billion after defaulting on a $2 billion dollar bond earlier this year.

The Recovery notes were issued to some creditors during an earlier debt restructuring in 2009 and were supposed to pay out whenever BTA managed a certain level of asset recovery………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Malaysia’s state investor Khazanah Nasional Bhd is expected to list its healthcare assets here and in Singapore in the second half of the year, a deal that could fetch US$1.5 billion (RM4.59 billion), said two sources with direct knowledge of the deal.
The dual listing could be the fourth-biggest initial public offering (IPO) in the city state’s history and Malaysia’s second-largest this year after the planned listing of plantation group Felda Global Venture Holdings………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Troubled Kazakh bank BTA’s biggest shareholder, the state investment fund, said on Thursday it would press ahead with a debt restructuring plan and dismissed suggestions that the bank should instead be allowed to fail.
Kazakhstan’s third-largest bank by assets, which is majority owned by the sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, defaulted on a $2 billion, 2018 Eurobond in January, only 18 months after a first round of restructuring cut its debt by two thirds………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The decision on the Kazakh people purchasing shares of national companies under the upcoming People’s IPO must be conscious, deliberate and skilled, Kazakh Sovereign Wealth Fund official Kuandyk Bishimbayev believes.
“The stock market is, in fact, a sophisticated tool. It is unpredictable, and therefore all citizens of Kazakhstan should approach investment in shares of national companies seriously and deliberately,” Bishimbayev told Trend on Wednesday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Qatar and Abu Dhabi’s investment-grade bonds are extending their rally after providing the world’s best returns among similarly-rated notes in the past three years, buoyed by higher oil prices.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is the world’s largest fund with an estimated $627bn in assets, according to the Las Vegas-based Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. Qatar’s fund is 12th on SWF’s list with estimated assets of $85bn………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Iceland wants to target wealth funds from China and Norway next time it sells debt to foreign investors after fixing its krona controls to prevent some bondholders getting their returns in other currencies.
The parliament’s March 13 agreement to backtrack on a program to ease currency controls by targeting debt investors it characterized as speculators won’t affect Iceland’s ability to tap international bond markets in the future, Economy Minister Steingrimur J. Sigfusson said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Australia’s shadow treasurer Joe Hockey has a political reputation to uphold as a straight shooter but he may have unsettled some of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth investors by candidly calling for greater transparency in their holdings of the Pacific nation’s bonds.
In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires yesterday, Mr Hockey explained his vision of why Australia needs a new register to reveal the identity of offshore buyers of its debt securities………………………………………..Full Article: Source