The West African Nation of Gabon has become the latest on the continent to launch a sovereign wealth fund to capitalise on oil sales income, following similar moves by nearby Ghana and Nigeria.
Gabon, which won independence from France in 1960, announced through its Council of Ministers this weekend that it intended to pool money earned from its oil production to fund domestic infrastructure projects………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp (CIC) and state refiner Sinopec are among the three cornerstone investors to pledge $350 million toward Canadian oil explorer Sunshine Oilsands Ltd’s Hong Kong IPO, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The three institutions are taking up nearly half of Sunshine Oilsands’ planned $700 million initial public offering (IPO), the source told Reuters on Tuesday. The offering will be the biggest stock market float in the world so far this year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings is selling 1.38 percent stake in India’s No. 2 lender ICICI Bank, according to a term sheet seen by media, in a deal to raise up to USD 303 million.
The share sale comes less than a week after Carlyle Group and Warburg Pincus took advantage of India’s recent market gains to pare stakes in two financial companies in deals worth USD 440 million………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore’s state-owned investment company, is selling a stake valued at 14.9 billion rupees ($303 million) in ICICI Bank Ltd., according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Temasek has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to help sell 15.9 million shares, or a 1.38 percent stake, the people said yesterday, declining to be identified because the details are private. The stock is being offered at a discount of as much as 1.5 percent, one person said. ICICI Bank rose 1.1 percent to 937.75 rupees in Mumbai………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Institutional investors in Asia are starting to use execution algorithms for foreign exchange trading, as global awareness spreads of the implicit costs of FX transactions. It comes in the wake of lawsuits in the US involving firms such as BNY Mellon and State Street.
Aside from the traditional FX algo client base of macro and multi-strategy hedge funds, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds in the region are showing interest, says Jonathan Wykes, global head of advanced execution services (AES) FX sales at Credit Suisse in London………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Korea Teachers Pension, the nation’s second-largest public pension fund, plans to increase its domestic stock holdings this year on the prospect Europe will resolve its debt crisis, spurring demand for riskier assets.
Korea Investment Corp., the nation’s $43 billion sovereign wealth fund that spent about 70 million pounds ($108 million) in December to buy a building in London’s financial district, said on Jan. 18 European assets are “attractive,” and it may buy more real estate………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Pascal Duhamel was appointed as Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s head of European real estate investments, according to spokesman Erik Portanger.
The position is new. Based in Abu Dhabi, Mr. Duhamel will report to Bill Schwab, global head of real estate at ADIA………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The African National Congress-commissioned study of state intervention in the mining sector — expected to be made public this month — proposes sweeping changes to the taxation of the industry.
It also proposes the creation of a sovereign wealth fund financed by a 50% tax on mining “super profits”, the merger of six existing government departments, and the combination of all state and trade union pension fund holdings in mining companies into a single special-purpose vehicle………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna is discussing a possible merger of state- controlled lenders AO Temirbank and AO Alliance Bank, said Yelena Bakhmutova, the fund’s deputy chief.
Samruk-Kazyna, which holds government stakes in the banks, is considering options to “boost the lenders’ effectiveness, including the possibility of their functioning as a united financial institution,” Bakhmutova said in an interview with the Interfax news service in comments confirmed by the Astana- based fund’s press service………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A long-term trust fund fueled by mineral taxes like that proposed for West Virginia has allowed Wyoming to weather the boom-bust cycle of extractive industries, a former Wyoming governor said Tuesday.
“It has provided a renewable resource from a nonrenewable resource,” said Michael J. Sullivan, who served as Wyoming governor from 1987 to 1995. “It has served us well.” Sullivan discussed Wyoming’s Permanent Mineral Trust Fund during a visit to Charleston to speak at the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy’s annual meeting and discuss the fund with local lawmakers………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Changes are coming to the Heritage Savings Trust Fund, but what they will be isn’t clear. In the throne speech the governing Conservatives say they want to review the fund, the energy minister says the province wants to grow it — and the premier says wait for Thursday’s budget.
Even before Tuesday’s throne speech began, Energy Minister Ted Morton hinted to reporters in Toronto that the province is looking at growing the Heritage Fund, which is worth less per capita today than shortly after it was launched in 1976 under Premier Peter Lougheed. The $15-billion fund is also a fraction of Norway’s $530-billion global savings plan, funded from its oil and gas sector………………………………………..Full Article: Source