Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation is planning to invest $400m (€296m) in infrastructure and $160m in single-family homes in the US. The pension fund has launched its third joint venture with American Homes 4 Rent, providing 80% of the $200m capital to invest in rented accommodation.
The Permanent Fund provided $400m and $200m for two previous partnerships in 2012. Michael Burns, executive director for the pension fund, said: “We have been pleased with the results we have had with American Homes up to this point………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Russia’s National Welfare Fund assets may be invested in the construction of a gas pipeline to China, Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev said on Wednesday, June 11. “This is probably not a net increase in the authorized capital of Gazprom but this may be a contribution to an SPV [special purpose vehicle] to be created by Gazprom,” he said.
National Welfare Fund’s assets can already be invested in preferred stock. “We have already made the decision to make a contribution to Russian Railways’ capital,” he added………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Italian sovereign wealth fund Fondo Italiano di Investimento has sealed its first divestment by selling its stake in waste management business Eco Eridania to fellow backers including Xenon Private Equity.
FII picked up a minority stake in the business for €10m in 2011, with Xenon coming on-board through a €14.3m financing alongside FSI in November 2012. Eco Eridania was launched in 1988 as an environmental services and consultancy company, and has since altered its business to specialise in disposing of animal and vegetable waste and hazardous materials from hospitals………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan intends to begin buying renminbi-denominated assets by the end of the year, subject to approval from Chinese regulators, Shahmar Movsumov, chief executive of the $37bn sovereign wealth fund, has said.
The move is part of a strategy the fund finalised at the end of last year to diversify beyond its traditional holdings of dollar- and euro-denominated fixed income, by boosting exposure to currencies other than the greenback, euro and pound from 5% to 10%, Movsumov told the Financial Times………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Azerbaijani sovereign wealth fund planned to invest at most USD 1.8 billion in CNY assets in 2014, being one of the biggest open investments in CNY assets.
CEO of State Oil Fund worth USD 37 billion revealed that the fund is applying to Chinese government regulators for license to buy CNY assets. Investment will be started by the end of 2014 at the latest. The fund will use all the money it has this year to invest in CNY assets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Indonesian coal miner PT Bumi Resources said on Wednesday its lenders had agreed to close a crucial debt-to-equity swap with Chinese sovereign wealth fund CIC, enabling it to pay the coupon on its 2016 bonds.
In October, CIC agreed to convert the $1.3 billion debt it was owed by Bumi Resources into stakes in the Indonesian company and associated subsidiaries………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Yu Bin, a former managing director at China’s sovereign wealth fund, plans to start a fund focused on China equities, sources said. Yu resigned from Beijing-based China Investment Corp (CIC) earlier this year for personal reasons, they said. He will remain based in China and his long-biased fund will primarily bet on stocks whose prices are expected to rise, they said.
Institutional investors globally have been scouting for China-based managers with international experience, who can pick stocks set to benefit from growth in the world’s second-largest economy and do not charge hedge-fund fees that are typically higher………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Prime Minister Should Adopt A Malaysian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) For Better Oversight and Governance Over Petroleum Revenues. For example, whilst 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)’s RM5.8 billion loan is guaranteed by the government, the fund – formerly a sovereign wealth fund called the Terengganu Investment Authority set up in 2008 and backed by petroleum royalties due to the state from the Federal government - lacks the transparency and disclosure mechanisms necessary to generate and develop public confidence in its management.
Norway is one such country, having set up the Government Pension Fund – Global (previously known as The Petroleum Fund of Norway) in 1990 into which surplus wealth from petroleum income was to be deposited in order to counter the effects of an anticipated decline in income………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Africa has experienced a rise in the establishment of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) over the past decade. The Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, a United States (US)-based research organisation, defines the term sovereign wealth fund as “a state-owned investment fund or entity” often set up from balance of payments surpluses, official foreign currency operations, privatisation proceeds, government transfer payments, fiscal surpluses and receipts from resource exports.
SWFs can be based on either commodities or non-commodities. Commodities-based SWFs are established from revenue derived from commodity exports, which are owned or taxed by the government. Non-commodities based SWFs are established from revenue raised through, for example, the transfer of assets from official foreign reserves………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A proposal to set up a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund attracted debate at a meeting of the Kingdom’s influential Shura council advisory body but failed to yield a result. A report by the council’s financial committee has said the National Reserve Fund, which would invest part of the Kingdom’s vast hydrocarbon wealth, would build on its financial stability.
Details of its investment strategy have yet to be disclosed publicly, but if the proposed fund is run like the sovereign wealth funds of other wealthy Gulf states such as Qatar and Abu Dhabi, it could mean a change in the way Saudi money flows through global markets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Russia has few simple relationships in the Middle East — or in other regions — but its relations with Qatar are especially complex. Russia’s cooperation with Qatar is increasingly visible in the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), an emerging international organization with the rather broad goal of “supporting the sovereign rights of member countries over their natural gas resources.”
The Qatar Investment Authority has committed $2 billion to the government-connected Russian Direct Investment Fund for infrastructure projects in Russia………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Qatari Diar, the real estate development entity of the Qatar Investment Authority, has emerged as one of the parties behind the construction of the Conrad Washington, DC. The Hilton Worldwide-operated hotel is set to open in early 2018 and will part of the CityCenterDC project in the US capital.
Qatari Diar is working with international real estate firm Hines on the design and construction of the hotel and 70,000 square feet of large-format retail space. Slated to open in early 2018, the hotel will have 370 rooms and is being designed by Herzog & de Meuron Architekten and HKS Architects………………………………………..Full Article: Source