The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan has always feared risk. Now it’s seeking higher yields, branching out into listed securities, real estate, gold and emerging market debt. But is this ultra-cautious fund really ready?
Shahmar Movsumov is a rock star in Azerbaijan. This must be true because he is described as such by his minders, by local businessmen and, most compellingly and personally, by Ell & Nicki, a bouncy Azeri pop duo, winners of the 2011 Eurovision song contest, who also describe him as “pretty cool”………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Libya’s government is in talks with International Finance Corporation executive Ahmed Ali Attiga to appoint him as head of its sovereign wealth fund, sources told Reuters.
The Libyan Investment Authority, which owns stakes in Italian bank UniCredit and British publisher Pearson, has been headless since last year after the exit of Mohammed Layas, who was linked to the regime of ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has been ranked as the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund with an estimated $627bn of assets under management, a new report has said.
ADIA, whose assets range from Citigroup bonds to a stake in London’s Gatwick Airport, scored four out of a possible ten points for transparency in the US-based Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute’s latest report………………………………………..Full Article: Source

DWS Investments, part of the Deutsche bank Group, continues to expand in emerging markets with the appointment of Luiz Riberio as head of Latin American Equities.
Riberio will be responsible for DWS’ investment strategy in the region, based primarily in São Paolo, reporting to Andreas Römer, head of Emerging Markets at DWS. He previously held the same post at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the highly respected sovereign wealth fund………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Get ready for resource nationalism: the state and ruling ANC are rigorously debating proposals that could force a radical shake-up of the country’s $2.5-trillion non-energy mineral wealth.
The broad strokes of the reforms, presented in the ANC’s 600-page draft “State Intervention in Minerals Sector” report, call for, among others, supertaxes on the mining industry that could be ring-fenced into various investment vehicles and sovereign funds………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) will divest a total of 10 companies that are not part of their core businesses. The divestment will be carried out via an open tender process.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said Khazanah and PNB will each divest five companies to increase bumiputra equity participation………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Falkland Islands, known to the Argentinians as Islas Malvinas is an island chain located in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. The Falklands comprise of two key islands and more than 700 minor ones. It lies 290 miles from the coast of mainland South America.
The islands are currently under the rule of the United Kingdom. There is a possibility of a major oil windfall off the Falklands. For 2012, oil explorers are aiming for 8.3 billion barrels of oil around the Falklands………………………………………..Full Article: Source

More and more hedge funds are looking to sovereign wealth funds to bolster their assets. But they may be looking in the wrong place.
While sovereign funds continued to increase their assets last year, they didn’t put that new money into hedge funds, according to a new study from TheCityUK. Overall portfolio allocations to hedge funds decreased, as did the overall number of sovereign funds investing in the asset class, which dropped slightly from 37% to 36%………………………………………..Full Article: Source