06.03.2015 - Feeling Hungry, SWFs Ramp Up Food and Agriculture Purchases
Sovereign wealth funds’ appetite for agriculture and fertilizer companies is growing as concerns about stable food supplies rise. Last year, Ding Xuedong, chief executive officer of China Investment Corp.(CIC), the country’s $650 million sovereign wealth fund, put the the issue of food security squarely on the agenda for state-owned investors. In a June 2014 op-ed piece for the Financial Times, he wrote that the fund was planning to partner with governments, multilateral organizations, and institutional investors to increase world’s food supply and generate profits. CIC is not alone. Other sovereign wealth funds are acting to protect their countries from food shortages, particularly in the Middle East. They are plowing money into land, farms and forestry as well as agricultural businesses. In the last 10 years, 14 state-owned funds executed 51 deals worthat least $11.1 billion in the industry according to Sovereign Wealth Center (SWC) data. These include the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), Singapore’s GIC and Temasek Holdings...............................................Full Article: Source
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