Not all sovereign wealth funds are titans of finance. We take a side trip to Trinidad and Tobago to speak to Ewart Williams, the head of its young SWF, to understand how these institutions are evolving.
Ewart Williams is governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago and director of the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund, a $4 billion sovereign wealth fund that was set up to secure and invest the proceeds of the country’s oil wealth. Williams had been a director of the IMF before returning to his country to run both the central bank and the fund………………………………………..Full Article: Source

When the average person looks at our creaking railway network and pot-hole-ridden roads, they see an irksome hindrance to their trip home from work. But China Investment Corporation – the sovereign wealth fund of the People’s Republic – sees dollar signs.
CIC chairman Lou Jiwei has been nattering with Chancellor George Osborne and the pair cooked up a bright idea to kick-start badly needed infrastructure upgrades. The idea is that Britain gets the much-needed financial impetus to get projects off the ground, while the Chinese investment vehicle takes a slice of the equity and profits………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Europe and the United States should increase infrastructure investment to drive a global economic recovery, the head of China’s $410 billion sovereign wealth fund said just days after expressing interest in buying into Western transportation deals.
China Investment Corp (CIC) Chairman and Chief Executive Lou Jiwei said in the official People’s Daily newspaper on Tuesday that China should not be regarded as the sole engine of global economic growth because domestic consumption is relatively weak………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Greentown China Holdings Ltd, a Hangzhou-based property developer, is talking with a subsidiary of China Investment Corp (CIC), Blackstone Group and Beijing Greentown Sunshine Investment Co to set up a joint venture (JV) for domestic property development.
“With a 60 percent stake, China Jianyin Investment Securities Co is to launch the JV, and the Blackstone Group will take a 10 percent stake in the JV via its private-equity team,” said a source with knowledge of the deal on Monday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Singapore-led group that won a tender for a large site in the western Chinese city of Chongqing will spend a total of 21.1 billion yuan ($3.31 billion) on what it hopes will become one of the most prominent projects in China, lead developer CapitaLand Ltd said on Tuesday.
CapitaLand, together with shopping mall arm CapitaMalls Asia , announced earlier on Tuesday that they were part of a consortium that had been awarded a 91,783 square metre site next to Chongqing’s central business district for S$1.28 billion ($985.30 million)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Dubai International Film Festival, the leading festival of its kind in the region, held under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has announced that Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), the specialised investment management organisation of the Government of Dubai, will be its title sponsor.
ICD supervises the government’s investment portfolio adding value through the implementation of world best-practice corporate governance, the recruitment of the best people and the embracing a global investment strategy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Europe’s hopes of ringfencing the embattled single currency through a €1 trillion-plus leveraged bailout fund are sinking due to spiralling bond yields, investor flight from eurozone debt, and failure to entice cash-rich governments in the far east to commit to the plan.
Klaus Regling, the head of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), is expected to tell eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday evening that the scheme to quintuple the firepower of the fund by underwriting initial losses on eurozone bond-buying by China and sovereign wealth funds in the far and Middle East has failed to attract enough interest………………………………………..Full Article: Source

At last a radical use of capitalism has been announced to address the UK’s pension black hole and stimulate growth. Discussions have begun between the UK pensions sector and the Treasury to create a £30bn sovereign wealth fund (SWF) to become a state-led investment vehicle, owned by British pensioners, to fund large scale infrastructure projects.
The idea is not new however. This is a classic case of the UK’s Coalition and Whitehall finally leaping from a very cold bath with its ‘Eureka’ moment. SWFs and public pension reserve funds (PPRF) have been effectively used for nearly 10 years in most of Europe, North America and Southeast Asia. Governments (such as those in Norway, the UAE, Russia, Canada and China) use these vehicles to manage directly or indirectly large asset pools to achieve long-term national objectives………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China is preparing to buy up plum assets in Europe, the commerce minister said on Monday, as the escalating debt crisis leaves countries in the region increasingly vulnerable to the deep pockets of Chinese firms.
The fastest-growing major economy in the world is keen to invest in infrastructure in Western Europe, particularly in Britain, Lou Jiwei, the head of $400 billion China Investment Corp (CIC) said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s sovereign wealth fund wants to invest in improving infrastructure in Europe and the United States to spur global growth, the fund’s chairman wrote in the Financial Times. “Now, infrastructure in Europe and the US badly needs more investment,” China Investment Corporation’s Lou Jiwei wrote.
“Traditionally, Chinese involvement in overseas infrastructure projects has been as a contractor only. Now, Chinese investors also see a need to invest in, develop and operate projects.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Britain said on Monday it would welcome investment by China’s $400 billion sovereign wealth fund in infrastructure projects, saying it would represent a “very significant boost” to the ailing economy.
Ministers are expected to detail a GBP 30 billion ($46.7 billion, 34.9 billion euros) programme of investment in roads, railways and high-speed broadband on Tuesday as part of a package of measures to try to boost stalled growth………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Managing Director of Institutional Fundraising at the Citadel Capital Stephen Murphy said institutions like the China Investment Corporation (CIC) , a sovereign wealth fund and China Africa Development Fund, an eventual 5 billion dollar fund to encourage and support Chinese enterprises to invest in Africa should take opportunities to invest in Africa’s private equity funds.
Citadel Capital is expected to start talks with CIC next month with possibility of the fund investing in into the African private equity………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Greentown China Holdings Ltd, a Hangzhou-based property developer, is talking with a subsidiary of China Investment Corp (CIC), Blackstone Group and Beijing Greentown Sunshine Investment Co to set up a joint venture (JV) for domestic property development.
“With a 60 percent stake, China Jianyin Investment Securities Co is to launch the JV, and the Blackstone Group will take a 10 percent stake in the JV via its private-equity team,” said a source with knowledge of the deal on Monday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund is looking to rope in a senior fund manager to manage its offshore funds, which was managed by Ajay Aragal before he quit to join Barings in Hong Kong. According to mutual fund industry sources, a fund manager, who is with a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) of a Gulf country, is in the race for the job.
Birla Sun Life officials did not respond to an email on the matter………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Khazanah Nasional Bhd is actively pursuing investments in healthcare and insurance sectors, going by recent reports. Reuters reported yesterday that the sovereign wealth fund had committed to purchase US$150mil (RM479.8mil) worth of H-shares in New China Life Insurance Co Ltd.
Also this week, a Bloomberg report stated that Khazanah’s unit may buy a stake in Turkey’s largest hospital chain, Acibadem Saglik Hizmetleri & Ticaret AS for US$1bil (RM3.2bil)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

States won a major battle yesterday, with the Federal Government releasing $2billion from the excess crude account for sharing. Minister of State for Finance Alhaji Yerima Lawan Ngama announced this after the meeting of the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) in Abuja.
The FAAC meeting agreed to share N615.757billion for October, among the three tiers of government………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Omani sovereign wealth fund the State General Reserve Fund has completed its acquisition of the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace in Budapest, Hungary, from Irish developer Avestus, formerly known as Quinlan Private.
The sale price is undisclosed, but it is rumoured that the hotel changed hands for no more than €40 million……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The inspector general for the U.S. Postal Service wants changes to the bypass mail program that helps underpin life in rural Alaska, and even suggests the state dip into its permanent fund to pay for a program that lost $73 million in the last fiscal year, according to the Associated Press.
The inspector general report notes that the financially strapped post office has little leeway to control the program’s costs, which subsidizes Alaska’s aviation industry, according to the article. The title of the report is “Alaska Bypass: Beyond its Original Purpose.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

China is keen to invest in the ailing infrastructure of Western countries, especially Britain, the chairman and chief executive of the Asian country’s sovereign wealth fund wrote in the Financial Times.
“Now, infrastructure in Europe and the U.S. badly needs more investment,” China Investment Corporation’s (CIC) Lou Jiwei wrote in an op ed piece. He said while China had traditionally confined itself to the role of contractor in overseas infrastructure projects, the country’s investors now saw a need to invest in, develop and operate such projects………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds from Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Kuwait led pledges to invest almost $3 billion in Morocco.Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and the Moroccan state agreed to establish a 50-50 investment joint venture worth $2 billion that aims to help Rabat fund major development projects, a statement from the Moroccan government said.
Visiting Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Morocco’s King Mohammed VI attended the signature ceremony for the agreement in Rabat to set up the joint venture fund between the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and its Moroccan equivalent………………………………………Full Article: Source

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and the Moroccan state agreed to establish a 50-50 investment joint venture worth $2 billion that aims to help the cash-strapped North African economy fund major development projects.

Visiting Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Morocco’s King Mohammed signed an agreement in Rabat to set up the joint venture fund between the Qatar Investment Authority and its Moroccan equivalent, a Moroccan government statement said………………………………………Full Article: Source

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has been commended by international investors for actions taken by his administration to make Nigeria much more attractive to multinational companies and other operators in the global economy.
Executives of leading global companies including Hewlett Packard, Mitsubushi, Credit Suisse, Xenel, Saipem, Larfarge, Siemens, Arcelor Mittal, Total and Shell who serve on Nigeria’s Honorary International Investment Council noted that as a direct result of measures and policies being implemented by the Jonathan Administration, the risk level for investments in Nigeria was declining while the risk level of more developed economies remained high………………………………………Full Article: Source

Nigeria is one of only three OPEC member states not to have a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) - the other two being Iraq and Ecuador. A number of oil rich economies have put in place SWFs consisting of financial assets, with a view to safeguarding national wealth.
But Nigeria’s newly re-appointed Finance Minister Ngozi Iweala has placed the creation of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), high on her list of priorities. This has gained aplomb from some and real scepticism from others, particularly the powerful state governors………………………………………Full Article: Source

On issue of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), the Minister of Finance, the Vice-President, Economics/Prime V1inister declared on the television few days ago that “there is no Joing back on the account of SWF” because that is the capacity hat she now operates. She said it has already been opened with he 1 Billion U.S. Dollars from the Excess Crude Oil Account.
In he 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, there is 10 provision for Excess Crude\Oil Account. The 1999 Constitution )f the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides that “the Federation :hall maintain a special Account to be called “the Federation Account” into which shall be paid all revenues collected by the government of the Federation, Section 162 (1)………………………………………Full Article: Source

India’s foreign exchange reserves have had the steepest three-week fall since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings in 2008, as the Reserve Bank of India wages a half-hearted battle to arrest the currency’s fall amid turbulence in the international financial markets.

Adecline in the value of other assets, such as the Euro and treasury of other nations, also had an impact on the reserves, as investors’ most-favoured asset remained the US dollar. Funding of high imports may also have contributed to the fall in foreign exchange reserves, economists said………………………………………Full Article: Source

Chennai-based eyecare and dental hospitals chain, Vasan Healthcare, is planning to raise around $120 million (approximately Rs 624 crore) from a sovereign wealth fund shortly to support the expansion of its clinics chain and its proposed foray into the eye wear business.

“The money will be raised from a single investor. We are likely to close the deal in a couple of weeks,” AM Arun, chairman of Vasan Healthcare. He said the fund-raising will be from one of the largest sovereign fund. He, however, declined to spell out the name of the investor………………………………………Full Article: Source

China’s sovereign wealth fund may give “indirect” support to Europe through investments without being the nation’s main route for any aid, said Jesse Wang, the executive vice president of China Investment Corp.

The fund “wouldn’t be the main channel” if China helps tackle the sovereign-debt crisis, Wang said in an interview at a forum in Beijing yesterday. “However, if during such a process there are good investment opportunities in Europe and if CIC’s investment helped the destination company or country to recover and developed the economy, that would be indirect support.”………………………………………Full Article: Source

As Europe looks set to go cap in hand to China to ask for bailout funds to resolve the eurozone crisis, the growing influence of Asian sovereign wealth funds is shifting the balance of investor power in European private equity.

Government-backed Asian investment funds are increasing their support to the European private equity industry, making up for the shortfall in capital from traditional investors……………………………………….Full Article: Source

A unit of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, may buy a stake in Turkey’s largest hospital chain, Acibadem Saglik Hizmetleri & Ticaret AS (ACIBD), three people with knowledge of the talks said.

The Malaysian fund, which is bidding through its hospital unit Integrated Healthcare Holdings Sdn., is in exclusive talks with Acibadem’s co-owner Abraaj Capital Ltd. after it outbid rivals including Fortis Healthcare International Pte Ltd., said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. Dubai-based Abraaj is close to reaching a deal for the stake, one of the people said……………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s sovereign wealth fund may give “indirect” support to Europe through investments without being the nation’s main route for any aid, said Jesse Wang, the executive vice president of China Investment Corp.

The fund “wouldn’t be the main channel” if China helps tackle the sovereign-debt crisis, Wang said in an interview at a forum in Beijing yesterday. “However, if during such a process there are good investment opportunities in Europe and if CIC’s investment helped the destination company or country to recover and developed the economy, that would be indirect support.” ……………………………………..Full Article: Source

Terra Firma Capital Partnersis seeking to raise up to 1 billion euros ($1.33 billion) from a sovereign wealth fund so it can continue to do deals when its buy-out fund’s investment period expires next year.

Big investors from China and the Middle East have approached Guy Hands’ private equity firm, saying they wanted it to create a separate pool worth between 500 million euros and 1 billion euros, the FT reported, citing people close to the matter………………………………………Full Article: Source

The Centre is still undecided on whether to set up a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) or not. No final decision has been taken by the Government in this matter, the Rajya Sabha (Upper house Parliament) was informed. “The issues regarding the establishment of a SWF are under discussion,” Mr Namo Narain Meena, the Minister of State for Finance, said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

A SWF is a special purpose investment vehicle created by a Government with surplus foreign exchange to invest overseas. A few years ago, India had considered setting up a SWF, but the proposal was not pursued………………………………………Full Article: Source

In a bid to emulate other BRIC nations India could be on the cusp of creating its own sovereign wealth fund. The idea has certainly gained traction with business and political leaders, says Kavaljit Singh, director of India’s Public Interest Research Centre.

New Delhi will soon take a final call on the issue of setting up of a sovereign wealth fund. The idea of setting up an Indian SWF has been going around since 2007 when China established its major sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation, with an initial capital fund of $200bn………………………………………Full Article: Source

The chief executive of NIB, the Pakistani bank controlled by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, has resigned and will be replaced by an interim CEO.

Khawaja Iqbal Hassan, who was instrumental in bringing Temasek as an investor in the Pakistani lender, will remain a non-executive member of NIB’s board after stepping down as president and CEO, according to a Karachi Stock Exchange filing………………………………………Full Article: Source

Endorsements of sovereign wealth funds from Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos have bolstered efforts by business leaders to convince governments to establish sovereign wealth funds as a means to capture more of the windfall from the mining boom for future use, according to a report by the Australian Financial Review.

The concept of the sovereign wealth funds has been gaining greater traction amongst business leaders, with ASX Ltd chairman David Gonski, Future Fund chairman David Murray and Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens, among others, acting as the most recent and vocal advocates………………………………………Full Article: Source

The chairman of the Future Fund has warned Australian state and federal governments that they run the risk of following Europe into financial disaster if they do not cut spending and boost productivity.

The call comes despite a senior Treasury official saying Australia’s economy is performing well, and coping with the current mining boom much better than previous ones………………………………………Full Article: Source

The head of the federal government’s Future Fund, David Murray, has delivered a scathing assessment of Labor’s management of the economy, accusing it of borrowing money to buy votes, and of dangerous complacency in the face of a “wake-up call” from the crisis unfolding in Europe.

Mr Murray, the former chief of the Commonwealth Bank, has also stridently backed Qantas in its dispute with its employees, saying that unless the airline and companies like it tackled union privilege, Australia risked the same fate as Europe………………………………………Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth funds from Qatar and Kuwait led pledges on Thursday to invest almost $3 billion in cash-strapped Morocco, cementing ties between Arab monarchies at a time of political turmoil in the region.

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and the Moroccan state agreed to establish a 50-50 investment joint venture worth $2 billion that aims to help Rabat fund major development projects, a statement from the Moroccan government said………………………………………Full Article: Source

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, the oil-rich country’s new state investment arm, has begun the search for its first top management team. The fund, which will replace the country’s Excess Crude Account, was approved back in May, but political wrangling over revenue-sharing between the various levels of Nigeria’s federal government delayed its implementation.

According to advertisements placed in western media outlets by KPMG, which is leading the search, the NSIA is looking for a chief executive, chief investment officer and chief risk officer. The chief executive role is targeted at Nigerian nationals but the other two positions are open to qualified individuals of any nationality………………………………………Full Article: Source

Representatives of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund joined venture capital firms from Europe, the UK, US and Japan earlier this month to hear investment pitches from several Irish cleantech companies.

Sources who attended Enterprise Ireland’s annual investor day in London said it was the first time that financiers from the Middle East had attended the event, demonstrating the calibre of the Irish companies present. It is believed that the executives were scouting for investments that fit strategically with the aims of Qatar’s ministry of energy, pointing to a particular interest in the four cleantech firms that were among the 25 Irish companies there………………………………………Full Article: Source

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and the Moroccan state on Thursday agreed to establish a 50-50 investment joint venture worth $2 billion that aims to help the cash-strapped North African economy fund major development projects.

Visiting Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Morocco’s King Mohammed signed an agreement in Rabat to set up the joint venture fund between the Qatar Investment Authority and its Moroccan equivalent, a Moroccan government statement said………………………………………Full Article: Source

The Government of Alberta announced the results of their second quarter on Monday and the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund took a substantial hit in projected investment income. Finance Minister Ron Liepert explained that the financial situation in Europe has had an effect on the province’s finances.
“Nothing directly, because we really don’t do that much business with Europe, but it’s the indirect effect,” said Liepert. “The European turmoil has had a negative effect on the markets. Our projected income from the investments this year is now projected to be only half of what we said it would be in the budget so that hits our bottom line. It’s an indirect hit from the Europe situation.”……………………………………..Full Article: Source

India is considering the issues pertaining to setting up a sovereign wealth fund to procure energy assets in overseas markets, Namo Narain Meena, a junior finance minister told lawmakers.
“The issues regarding the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund are under discussion,” the minister said in a written reply to the upper house of parliament, adding no final decision had been taken yet. He was replying to a query whether the government had decided to set up a $10 billion sovereign wealth fund to acquire energy assets abroad………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The PNG Sovereign Wealth Fund will be managed locally with its investments done overseas. This was discussed during the first PNG Sovereign Wealth Fund (PNG SWF) regional forum held in Kokopo this week with participants representing different organisations and stakeholders within the NGI region and government departments sharing their views on how the fund would help in the economic growth of the country.
Former Prime Minister and Kokopo MP Sir Rabbie Namaliu officially opened the one day forum and thanked the participants for attending such an important consultation meeting which was set to be hosted throughout the other regions of the country………………………………………..Full Article: Source

President Nicolas Sarkozy congratulated the sovereign wealth fund on its achievements since its creation in 2008: a total of Euro 5.9bn invested in French companies, small and large.
He also announced the establishing of 3 successor funds focused on 3 sectors: aeronautics (Aerofund 2), healthcare (InnoBio MedTech) and nuclear energy. The event was relatively discrete, and observers noted that the President was obliged to make some new announcements on the subject of the financing of French small and medium sized companies (SMEs), an area he champions closely………………………………………..Full Article: Source

CITIC Capital, the Hong Kong-based fund manager part-owned by China’s sovereign wealth fund, has confirmed the Townsend Group as a cornerstone investor for the $225m (€170m) first closing of its China Retail Properties Investment Fund.
In an email, Stanley Ching, head of CITIC Capital’s retail group, said: “It was very important [to have a cornerstone investor], particularly one representing many pension funds’ interests………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Chinese banks are “extremely fragile” because the lenders don’t have enough capital to offset bad loans, said Jim Chanos, president and founder of the $6 billion hedge fund Kynikos Associates Ltd.
State-run Central Huijin Investment Ltd., an arm of China’s sovereign wealth fund, said on Oct. 10 that it started buying stock in the four biggest Chinese lenders after their shares tumbled this year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Malaysia’s Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust, partly owned by the Qatar Investment Authority, said it has priced the institutional portion of its 710 million ringgit ($223.5 million) initial public offering at 90 Malaysian sen each.
The offering is at least 25 times oversubscribed, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters on Wednesday. The retail portion of the offer was priced at 88 sen each, Pavilion said in a statement, but did not give subscription details………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth fund is a pool of money derived from a country’s reserves, which is set aside for investment purposes that will benefit the country ‘s economy and citizens . The funding for a sovereign wealth fund SWF comes from the central bank reserves that accumulate as a result of budget and trade surpluses , and even from revenue generation from export of natural resources.
Today the sovereign wealth funds are avenue for nation that operate them to attract investment into their countries………………………………………..Full Article: Source

After several years of debates and dilly-dally, India will have a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) like many other regions including China, Singapore and Kuwait. The government has finally taken an “in principle” decision to set up an SWF. Top sources in the government say the modalities are being finalised and an announcement will be made as part of the Budget in February 2012.
At the outset, the idea of setting up an SWF has been discussed but no decision was taken as there was no agreement on the size of the corpus, how to finance such a fund, and the scope of such a fund………………………………………..Full Article: Source