From Reuters: China Investment Corp, the country’s $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, appointed a new private equity head as part of its latest internal restructuring to boost investment performance, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

CIC made an internal announcement to its staff late on Tuesday that Hu Bing, who was mainly responsible for CIC’s fixed income investment and trading desk, had been appointed the new head of CIC’s Private Equity Department, said the sources with direct knowledge of the matter…….Full Article: Source

From Cnbceb.com: Once seen as pariahs of international markets threatening national strategic assets and now hailed as white knights to wobbling banks, Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have been on a rollercoaster ride in the past year.

However, while their standing may have improved, SWFs are now nursing billion-euro paper losses. Faced with increasing public pressure at home to account for those losses and political demands that they should help prop up flagging domestic economies, many are now reviewing their investment strategies to protect their long-term interests…….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Europe’s biggest equity investor, has had roughly a zero percent return on its investments in global stocks and bonds so far in 2009, its executive director said on Wednesday.

“Markets were very weak in January, so the portfolio dropped further, but markets picked up and total returns are at around zero percent so far this year,” Executive Director Yngve Slyngstad told a hearing at the Norwegian parliament…….Full Article: Source

From Nasdaq.com: China’s US$200 billion sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp., said late Wednesday it has set up a specific department dealing with big opportunistic investments aimed at long-term returns.

The move is part of the drive by CIC to restructure its investment departments to maximize interest for its shareholders, the sovereign fund said in a statement posted on its Web site…….Full Article: Source

From Cleantechbrief.com: The UK budget announced last week established a GBP 750 million ($1 billion) strategic investment fund, one third of which will be earmarked for low carbon businesses and technologies, including low-emissions vehicles, nuclear power, and renewable energy.

The monies will be distributed over the next two years, with GBP 400 million ($582 million) allotted in 2009-2010 and a further GBP 350 million ($509 million) during 2010/11…….Full Article: Source

From News.com.au: Sir Rod Eddington said the Building Australia Fund had only $12.5 billion salted away in the Future Fund and had been relying on an additional $7.5billion from future surpluses to reach the target of $20 billion.

“That was where we were when this was set up, but the global financial crisis has clearly changed the second bit ($7.5billion),” he told the Committee for Economic Development of Australia in Brisbane yesterday…….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: Saudi Arabia, the biggest economy in the Middle East, will start operations of a SR20 billion ($5.33bn /Dh19.5bn) investment company in six months.

“A consultancy will start the formation of the company next week,” Mansour Al Maiman, Secretary-General of the Public Investment Fund, said in an interview yesterday at a conference in Riyadh. “It will target all sectors abroad and at home. We hope it will start work in six months.”……Full Article: Source

From Inform.kz: Korean companies are interested in production of high-tech electronic equipment on the territory of Kazakhstan, PM Karim Massimov and his South Korean counterpart said in the telephone conference; Kazinform reports.

The Korean party proposed to hold talks between Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund and KazMunaiGas and the LG Chemical regarding their participation in construction project of the petrochemical plant based in Atyrau…….Full Article: Source

From Business24-7.ae: Saudi Arabian Central Bank Governor Muhammed Al Jasser said the dollar will not easily lose its role as the global reserve currency and that he saw no sign investors were seeking “lifeboats” to flee the US unit.

“People say that Europe is probably behind the (US) in getting into recession but will take a lot longer also to get out of it,” Jasser told a conference on US-Saudi relations co-hosted by the New America Foundation…….Full Article: Source

From FT: A growing band of emerging economies are voicing concerns over the dollar’s status as the world’s premier reserve currency. China has already announced an increase in its bullion holdings as it diversifies its reserves portfolio, and it has also suggested greater use of the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights (SDRs).

At the same time, the current economic and financial crisis has raised market concerns about the structural integrity of the dollar’s chief competitor, the euro…….Full Article: Source

From Maktoob.com: A new $5.33 billion investment firm owned by the government of Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, will start operations next week, a senior Saudi official said on Tuesday. The government announced last year its intention to set up the firm, called Sanabil al-Saudia, with a mandate to invest in equities, bonds, real estate, foreign currencies and commodities in Saudi Arabia and abroad.

“It is expected that Sanabil’s advisers will begin work next week,” said Mansour al-Maiman, secretary-general of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the finance ministry’s investment arm……Full Article: Source

From Pionline.com: Investments in China Investment Corp. and the National Council for Social Security Fund — China’s two Beijing-based sovereign wealth funds — will likely shift into equity, real estate and alternatives in the next five years from cash and money market funds, according to a report from consultant Z-Ben Advisors.

Assets for the two funds will remain relatively stable at a combined $295 billion by year end, but this figure will quickly climb to $631 billion by the end of 2014 largely because of additional government funding and investment returns, Z-Ben projected……Full Article: Source

From Abc.az: Investment portfolio of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) for the first quarter of 2009 reduced from $11.189 bn to $10.512 bn.

SOFAZ executive director Shahmar Movsumov says that today 54.5% of Fund’s assets were place in terms of US dollars, 40% in euro and 5.28% in pounds of sterling……Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Kuwait’s finance minister expressed confidence in the Gulf Arab state’s sovereign wealth fund investment in U.S. bank Citigroup, saying in remarks published on Tuesday that it could turn profitable. The Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) has come under fire from some parliamentarians for investing $5 billion last year in U.S. banks Citigroup and Merrill Lynch.

“Our investment in Citi… is beneficial… and God willing we will reach a stage where it becomes profitable,” Mustapha al-Shamali told al-Rai newspaper……Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Qatar is in talks to buy a stake in Germany’s Porscheand may also invest in other carmakers as the Gulf gas exporter looks to park some of its sovereign wealth abroad. Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, declined to comment.

Qatar’s Al-Arab newspaper reported Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Than as saying that Qatar was in talks with Porsche and was “seriously” considering taking a stake in the luxury carmaker……Full Article: Source

From Inform.kz: Chairman of the Board of SamrukKazyna National Welfare Fund Kairat Kelimbetov has made a report on the Fund’s activity in the 1st quarter of 2009 in the Majilis today.

According to him, 25 large projects worth USD 19.5 bln are under the Fund’s consideration at present. These projects directed primarily on development of energy, transport infrastructure, oil and gas sphere and processing industry will be realized within the stabilization plan. USD 3.7 bln will be provided by the state for their implementation……Full Article: Source

From WSJ: Oil-rich Abu Dhabi’s investment fund Mubadala Development Company has lured one of BP PLC’s top Middle East executives to a new role at the company in an effort to boost its energy business, people familiar with the matter said.

Three people with knowledge of the matter told Zawya Dow Jones Tuesday that Steve Peacock, former president for the Middle East at BP had recently left the U.K. oil major to join Mubadala in an executive role……Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, has injected about 400 million dinars ($1.37 billion) so far into a fund to support the bourse, an official said.

Kuwait Investment Co (KIC), a unit of KIA, has managed the fund since December 24, the firm’s chairman Bader Al-Subaie was cited as saying by local newspapers Al-Qabas and Al-Watan. KIC has managed to bring back gradual stability to the stock market through the fund, the papers added……Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Brazil is not planning on tapping its recently-created sovereign wealth fund this year despite a fall in government revenues, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Monday.

“I’d rather not use it. It is one additional resource that we have to ensure a solid primary (budget) surplus,” the minister told investors in New York……Full Article: Source

From Indiatimes.com: After setting up a sovereign fund with Oman, the government is now understood to be in talks with other Middle-East countries to set up a similar fund. As part of the initiative, the government has already finalised details for another multi-billion dollar joint investment fund with Qatar.

Bankers feel that given the liquidity crunch faced by the infrastructure sector, these sovereign funds would offer it a fresh lease of life. Given the growing infrastructural requirements, these funds would help enhance market liquidity and facilitate a more efficient allocation of resources……Full Article: Source

From Forbes.com: Another Abu Dhabi state investment fund has sought out credit ratings, a rare step toward greater transparency that could make buyout financing easier to get.

The ratings issued Monday to International Petroleum Investment Co. by the three leading rating agencies are the same as the high investment-grade sovereign ratings held by the government of Abu Dhabi……Full Article: Source

From Apa.az: As of April 1, State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) posted its assets at 8 721.4 mln. manats (USD 10 863.9 mln.). Shahmar Movsumov, Executive Director of SOFAZ, told a press conference the Fund’s budget revenues for January-March, 2009 reached 1 349.2 million manats and budget expenditures 1 398.7 mln. manats.

Revenue of 1 274.5 mln. manats was received from implementation of oil and gas agreements, including 1 272.2 mln……Full Article: Source

From Bloomberg: Asian investments in hedge funds may have declined by 40 percent over the 18 months to mid-2009. Government entities such as sovereign wealth funds will help drive a recovery in the dollar value of Asian hedge fund investments to $382 billion by 2013, he said.

“What you do have in Asia is a number of sovereign wealth funds and government entities that are relatively new,”…..Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Qatar has set aside about $150 billion for various projects over the next four years and stands ready to inject funds into local companies hit by the global economic meltdown, the country’s prime minister said.
But the premier said the intervention would be direct, and not through the country’s sovereign wealth fund……Full Article: Source

From Ameinfo.com: Moody’s Investors Service has assigned a foreign currency rating of Aa2 with a stable outlook to the Global Medium-Term Note Programme issued by MDC-GMTN B.V. and unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Mubadala Development Company PJSC (Mubadala).

This is in line with Mubadala’s issuer ratings, which were assigned in September 2008 and are Aa2 with a stable outlook. Because any issuance under the programme will constitute unconditional, unsubordinated and unsecured obligations of Mubadala……Full Article: Source

From Bloomberg: Russia plans to borrow money on the international market next year and may arrange loans from the World Bank to help cover its budget shortfall, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said.The country’s Reserve Fund, one of its two sovereign wealth funds, may be exhausted by the end of this year, he said.

The fund will be replenished if oil prices stay above $50 a barrel, according to Kudrin……Full Article: Source

From AFP: China’s forex investments were profitable last year despite the financial crisis, state media reported Friday, citing a senior foreign exchange regulator.

“We managed to get some proceeds from managing the country’s foreign exchange reserves last year,” Hu Xiaolian, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), told Xinhua news agency in an interview……Full Article: Source

From Huffingtonpost.com: China is not just interested in this new IMF investment option. Over the last couple of years Beijing has been quietly purchasing gold–and now has $31 billion invested in the previous metal.
Couple this development with reports that Beijing’s sovereign wealth fund is also shopping on the commodities market and one comes to a grim conclusion…the Chinese are aggressively seeking to diversify their holdings……Full Article: Source

From Tradearabia.com: Bahrain is pushing ahead with massive developments as much of the world cowers in the face of recession, said the head of the government’s investments arm.

Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company chief executive officer Talal Alzain, was speaking as he detailed the $1 billion (BD378 million) @bahrain development, a business, technology, retail and leisure ‘city’ to be built alongside the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
http://www.tradearabia.com/news/newsdetails.asp?Sn=CONS&artid=160262″target=”_blank”>Source

From Timesonline.co.uk: Mumtalakat, the £10 billion sovereign wealth investment fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has said that it will invest if Mr Dennis can prove that the project is viable.

The fund is considering buying stakes in City asset managers and hedge funds as it seeks to diversify its portfolio from the Middle East………Full Article: Source

From Gulfnews.com: The Qatari government could help financial companies and other firms outside the banking sector by directly injecting cash if needed, and not through the country’s sovereign wealth fund, Al Raya reported Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Al Thani as saying.

The government has bought stakes in local banks through the Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund, to support the economy and help boost financing for upcoming development projects, the prime minister said………Full Article: Source

From Businessspectator.com.au: Australia would now have a $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund – the largest in the world - and really would be sitting pretty, not just saying it.

The super guarantee IS actually a tax, designed to augment retirement funding as the baby-boom generation approaches 65 with insufficient actual workers to support them, but with the funds going to private operators to manage………Full Article: Source

From Maktoob.com: Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala said on Sunday its joint venture with U.S. firm Occidental and Bahrain would more than double oil production from Bahrain’s Awali oilfield to 75,000 barrels per day within five years.

The Abu Dhabi government investment body said Occidental held a 48 percent stake in the joint operating company formed last month to develop the field, while Mubadala held a 32 percent stake………Full Article: Source

From WSJ: How much has the value of Carlyle Group declined over the last year or so? Roughly 40%, if you use the value of Mubadala’s investment in the firm as a guide.

Mubadala, an investment arm of the government of Abu Dhabi, has just published its first annual report. You won’t find details of any private equity investments other than Carlyle that the firm may have made, but Mubadala does reveal that it took an AED2 billion ($543 million) writedown on its investment in Carlyle………Full Article: Source

From Adn.com: The Alaska Permanent Fund is continuing to trend downward. Last year, the fund saw a 25 percent loss. The fund in the first quarter of this year is down nearly 5 percent.

While that does not sound good, fund managers say it could have been far worse. They say a much larger first-quarter loss was averted when stock markets in both the United States and overseas rebounded sharply……..Full Article: Source

From Investordaily.com.au: The first financial report from a Gulf state-owned sovereign fund showed it has not been immune to the financial crisis. Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala suffered a loss of $4.5 billion over 2008, compared to a profit of $500 million the year before.

The fund’s losses could be attributed to the decline in oil and stock prices, which led to large impairment charges. Mubadala invested in some of the world’s largest companies, including Rolls Royce, EADS and General Electric………Full Article: Source

From As-coa.org: Has the financial crisis provided the push Latin America needs to expand sovereign wealth?
For a while, it was possible to imagine that the region’s hard-won prosperity over the past decade, gained from harvesting the fruits of the earth from soya to copper had provided Latin America with a comfortable cushion in the form of central bank reserves and sovereign wealth funds to do it easily………Full Article: Source

From Lcbackerblog: This is the third of a series of five (5) essays in which the nature and character of sovereign wealth funds are considered.
Specifically the essays explore whether a sovereign wealth find can form itself to the ideals expressed in emerging regulatory regimes, like the Santiago Principles, one based on the idea that states may be treated like private entities with respect to their enterprises, formally sovereign but functionally private, as long as they conform to a set of behavior expectations which are said to distinguish sovereign from private behavior. ……..Full Article: Source

From Africanmanager.com: The World Bank response to the global economic recess ion in Africa through infrastructure development has been jacked up from US$600 m illion to US$3.6 billion.

The World Bank said similar increase was effected on its investment on agricultu re in the region from US$430 million to US$1.05 billion………Full Article: Source

From AFP: China called Sunday for reform of the global currency system, dominated by the dollar, which it said is the root cause of the global financial crisis.

“We should attach great importance to reform of the international monetary system,” Chinese Vice Finance Minister Li Yong told the spring IMF/World Bank Development Committee meeting in Washington………Full Article: Source

From FT: Mubadala, one of oil-rich Abu Dhabi’s most active investment vehicles, on Thursday released its first annual report which showed that it made losses of AED11.8bn (EUR2.5bln) in 2008.

The report – the first of its kind by a Gulf state investment entity wholly owned by the government – provides a rare insight into the losses incurred by sovereign investment entities after the decline in asset prices and the collapse in global stock markets…..Full Article (Registration Required) : Source

From Adn.com: The Alaska Permanent Fund’s investments had a return of negative 4.93 percent in the quarter that ended March 31, with most of that decline occurring in the first part of the three-month period, managers of the state oil wealth savings account said.
As of March 31, the value of the fund’s stocks, bonds, real estate and other investments was $27.4 billion, down $1.4 billion from Dec. 31. The stock market rally that began in March has raised the value since then, however, with the investments worth $29.1 billion as of Wednesday…..Full Article: Source

From Pionline.com: The $27.4 billion Alaska Permanent Fund, Juneau, returned -4.93% on its investments as of March 31, the third quarter of its fiscal year, confirmed spokeswoman Laura Achee.

Despite positive numbers for March, equity returns were down in the quarter. The U.S. equity portfolio returned -9.5%; non-U.S. stock, -9.6%; and global stock, -11.6%. For the month, the portfolio returns were 9.1%, 7.7% and 7%, respectively…..Full Article: Source

From 234Next.com: The World Bank response to the global economic recession in Africa through infrastructure development has been jacked up from 600 million dollars to 3.6 billion dollars.

The World Bank said similar increase was effected on its investment on agriculture in the region from 430 million dollars to 1.05 billion dollars…..Full Article: Source

From China Knowledge: China’s national pension fund, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), raised its shareholding in China National Materials Co Ltd (Sinoma to 8.1% on Apr. 16, sources reported.

According to statistics released by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx), NSSF bought approximately 1.57 million shares of Sinoma for HK$7.62 million or HK$4.857 apiece…..Full Article: Source

From As-coa.org: Has the financial crisis provided the push Latin America needs to expand sovereign wealth? For a while, it was possible to imagine that the region’s hard-won prosperity over the past decade, gained from harvesting the fruits of the earth from soya to copper had provided Latin America with a comfortable cushion in the form of central bank reserves and sovereign wealth funds to do it easily.
But ironically, the de-leveraging of the global financial system over the past six months has once again brought to the surface historical fears about the lack of economic diversification and, in particular, concerns about dependency on primary resources and on foreign capital…..Full Article: Source

From WSJ: Chileans have the strongest purchasing power in Latin American based on the International Monetary Fund’s latest report, Finance Minister Andres Velasco said. Chile has amassed around $20 billion, the windfall from its copper exports during the copper price boom, in two sovereign wealth funds.

It has drawn $4 billion from one of these funds to finance its fiscal stimulus package aimed at boosting sagging domestic demand…..Full Article: Source

From Economist.com: According to the official figures, China’s foreign reserves are $1.95 trillion. But Mr Setser reckons that the true figure is around $2.3 trillion if hidden reserves are included, such as those of the China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country’s sovereign-wealth fund, and the “other foreign assets” of the PBOC.

Taking this wider measure of foreign-exchange reserves, and then adjusting for changes in the value of non-dollar reserves caused by swings in the dollar, Mr Setser reckons that China’s total reserves rose by around $40 billion in the first quarter, only one-fifth of their increase in the first quarter of 2008. On the face of it, this represents a big drop in China’s demand for foreign assets…..Full Article: Source

From Bloomberg: World Mining Investment, a $400 million fund set up by corporate adviser Didier Rault, will seek $600 million from a state-owned Chinese company this year to invest in producers of coal, gold and other commodities.
China, the world’s biggest buyer of metals, in February announced about $22 billion of investments in mining companies as the worst commodity rout in at least five decades slashed values. Premier Wen Jiabao wants to boost inventories of strategic materials, while China’s sovereign fund said it may invest in commodity assets…..Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Indonesia’s PT Bank Danamon Tbk, controlled by Singapore’s state investor Temasek Holdings, reported on Thursday a 30.2 percent drop in first-quarter net profit as lending slowed.

The bank said its net profit in the January-March period fell to 393 billion rupiah ($35.96 million) from 563 billion rupiah in the same period a year ago…..Full Article: Source