Sovereign wealth fund GIC has tied up with private equity firm Insight Venture Partners to buy iParadigms, which provides cloud-based educational technologies to prevent plagiarism, verify content, and evaluate student learning.
GIC and Insight Venture Partners will pay US$752 million (S$944 million) for California-headquartered iParadigms, the company said on Tuesday. iParadigms’ flagship product is Turnitin, which is used by over 24 million students and 1.6 million educators at 10,000 institutions worldwide. It has also created iThenticate, a content verification service for research, corporate and government users………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Penang Development Corp (PDC) has signed an agreement with Singapore’s Temasek Holdings to establish a RM11.3 billion gross development value shared services hub in Bayan Lepas and Batu Kawan, according to InvestPenang director Datuk Lee Kah Choon.
Lee said PDC will make way for the setting up of a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Prime office building at the current 2.7 hectare site (ha) and the Penang International Technology Park will be developed on a 80ha site at the mainland………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The increase in Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency’s (SAMA’s) net foreign assets to a record high of SR2.732 trillion in April shows the level of growth in the monetary system accelerated in tandem with the fiscal expansionary policy.
The challenge with using central bank assets for driving economic development is the fact they typically have to be held in liquid, relatively low-risk assets. The best example globally is US Treasuries — a large, deep, liquid market. The range of comparable assets in Saudi Arabia is limited. Part of the challenge here is the underdevelopment of the fixed income market and the near-absence of secondary trading………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Luxembourg-based developer and investment manager Freo, backed by a unit of the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADIA, has joined with Zurich-based property firm Halter to start construction of the CHF450m (€369m) Mall of Switzerland near Lucerne.
Halter took over a stake in the project in the town of Ebikon from Swiss lift builder Schindler, plus an associated 73,000 sq.m. land reserve, enabling the building start, said Halter………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Company could be set for a multi-million dollar windfall as rumours gather pace that British breakdown firm RAC is about launch a listing which could double its value to around $3.35bn.
RAC was bought by US-based private equity firm Carlyle Group for £1bn ($1.67bn) in 2011 and it was reported by the Express newspaper that the firm was currently in the process of hiring investment banks ahead of a forthcoming listing………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Russia is ready to increase investments in the Azerbaijani economy. Today in Baku Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev has stated that Russia is going to invest in Azerbaijan in such projects as wagon-production, oil production and oil transportation equipment, creation of logistics centers.
“From the Azerbaijani side investments are planned in the logistics sector, in particular, in the logistics center in Yekaterinburg. We’ve already discussed the use of the opportunities of sovereign funds, in particular the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) and the National Welfare Fund of Russia, Azerbaijan Investment Company and the Russian Direct Investment Fund for co-investing in mutually beneficial projects, opening in Azerbaijan,” the Russian minister said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Azerbaijan and Russia are viewing opportunities in the sphere of co-investment in mutually beneficial projects, Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told reporters in Baku on June 2.
“During a meeting with my Azerbaijani counterpart, Shahin Mustafayev, we discussed a wide range of issues, including the possibility of co-investing by Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) and Russian National Welfare Fund, as well as Azerbaijan’s investment company and Russian Direct Investment Fund in projects of mutual interest,” the minister said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The minority coalition, in office since October, is Norway’s first in almost a decade to rely on opposition parties to push through laws. Those include how to manage the nation’s $880 billion sovereign wealth fund and how to develop key offshore oil projects.
Norway is facing lawsuits from investors in the nation’s gas pipelines, including Allianz AG and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund. They are seeking to reverse the previous government’s decision to cut gas transport tariffs………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The UAE sovereign wealth fund assets are expected to reach $975 billion (Dh3.578trn) this year, making up 43 per cent the total SWF assets held by the GCC countries.
According to global trade credit insurance company Euler Hermes, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries’ sovereign wealth fund assets are forecast to reach $2.25 trillion (Dh8.25trn) in 2014. The UAE is followed by Saudi Arabia with SWF assets totalling $680 billion (Dh2.49 trillion), followed by Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain…………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund urged creditors of Alliance Bank to support its proposed debt restructuring, saying the lender may otherwise face bankruptcy at the hands of regulators.
Alliance Bank, seeking to overhaul its debt for a second time since 2010, is “in a critical financial situation,” Yelena Bakhmutova, a deputy chief executive officer at sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, said today by phone from the Kazakh capital Astana. “We are not ready to save Alliance Bank alone,” she said…………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s central bank will not sell Norwegian crowns in June to buy foreign exchange for the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the bank said on Friday on its page, in line with its practice in recent months.
The bank earlier said it did not expect to buy any foreign currency over the coming months and that it could even buy crowns later in the year. The fund uses the proceeds of a sale to invest in stocks, bonds and property abroad. It is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund………………………………….Full Article: Source

Lurking beneath Malaysia’s solid investment-grade sovereign rating is a risk posed by a $14 billion investment fund that is not even generating enough cash from operations to cover interest costs.
Regarded as a cross between a sovereign wealth fund and a private investment vehicle, with Prime Minister Najib Razak chairing its advisory board, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is struggling under the burden of $11 billion in borrowed money…………………………………..Full Article: Source

President Park Geun-hye met with executives from Temasek Holdings, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, and discussed expanding the fund’s investments in Korea and other matters of mutual interest. “I am glad that the Temasek Connection conference is being held in Korea this year, after it was postponed last year due to the deterioration of South Korea-North Korea relations,” said President Park.
“I hope the conference will be a good chance to understand Korean industries and culture, and to find new opportunities for investment in areas with high growth potential.”………………………………….Full Article: Source

GIC, a Singapore-based sovereign wealth fund, is now planning to sell the Great White Course, one of five championship golf courses in Doral, located adjacent to the Trump National Doral Resort and Spa in Miami.
The 130-acre offering known as “Doral White” is being positioned as an unparalleled opportunity for a developer to build a massive, mixed-use community from the ground up at a “Main and Main” location in one of the country’s fastest-growing suburbs…………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s biggest sovereign wealth funds need, and want, co-investment opportunities in real assets and private equity and are open to new partnerships with international investors of the right credentials, and the longer term the partnership the better.
This is the feedback of Michael Wadley, a specialist lawyer of Australian origin based in Shanghai, who runs a consultancy advising both domestic and foreign investors on acquisitions, tax and compliance. The need for such partnerships is not just because of the way these funds have grown in line with the relentless rise in the Chinese economy since 1998, but to their high weighting to overseas assets in mining, real estate, infrastructure and private equity…………………………………..Full Article: Source

The healthcare group of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and its Singaporean sovereign wealth fund partner are looking at establishing a presence in Southeast Asian neighbors in the coming years even as the hospital chain continues to strengthen its market leadership locally.
The overseas expansion will cater to the needs of the developing healthcare sector in the region while taking advantage of possible synergies with other MPIC businesses also going abroad, an executive said last week. Last month, Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (GIC) poured in P10.2 billion for shares and exchangeable bonds in MPIC’s healthcare group, the market leader in the Philippines…………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Oman-India Joint Investment Fund (OIJIF) plans to raise around $350 million for a new fund that will invest in a number of sectors, including single-brand retail, specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals and industrials, according to a report in India’s leading financial daily Livemint.
OIJIF, a equal joint venture between State Bank of India (SBI) and the State General Reserve Fund (SGRF), a sovereign wealth fund of the Sultanate of Oman, will start raising the money later this year, the paper said. Established in 2010, OIJIF was launched with a corpus of $100 million. The fund has made five investments since 2011. Its current investments include National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd, ING Vysya Bank Ltd and Solar Explosives Ltd…………………………………..Full Article: Source

Mineral-rich Mozambique is considering the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund, the country’s finance minister said. “We think it’s a good idea,” Manuel Chang told AFP on the sidelines of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) conference on Africa.
“But we won’t do what others have done,” he added, suggesting Mozambique would not rush into creating the fund given other pressing demands that will require huge injections to fix, such as the infrastructure. An estimated $10-billion in foreign investments are expected to flow into the southern African country once a natural gas processing plant is built on its northern coast…………………………………..Full Article: Source

Elias Masilela resigned as the chief executive officer of South Africa’s Public Investment Corp., Africa’s biggest fund manager and the largest shareholder on the Johannesburg stock exchange.
Masilela, 50, will take outstanding leave immediately and officially step down on June 30 after more than three years in the job, the Pretoria-based PIC, which manages 1.6 trillion rand ($153 billion) in assets, said in an e-mailed statement today. Chief Financial Officer Matshepo More will be acting head of the manager of the pension funds of South African state workers…………………………………..Full Article: Source

When Visa was on the runway for its IPO in early 2008, the bankers running the deal suggested meeting with sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) in the Middle East where they detected substantial interest. But they advised the global credit card giant to follow a two-step process ‘to bridge any cultural divides,’ recalls Jack Carsky, senior vice president of global IR at the credit payments company.
‘We made the effort to go out on two separate occasions’ to make initial introductions before the funds would get serious about investing, he recounts. The meetings ‘looked like the UN’, with the lead analyst ‘a kid who grew up in Iowa’ joined by colleagues from China and India. ‘The common factor was they were all fantastic analysts.’ The extra effort paid off when SWFs ‘became a cornerstone’ in the IPO, Carsky states…………………………………..Full Article: Source