The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) maintains a quite substantial sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), and much to their credit, they invest these across a wide global footprint. In fact, they have a track record of showing readiness to contribute handsomely to solve critical global financial problems. This was put to display at the height of sub-prime market crisis in 2008, with the GCC contributing generously to a special fund to help those hit with the calamity.
Three other GCC member-states maintain sizeable SWFs, specifically $743 billion for Saudi Arabia, $410 billion for Kuwait and $170 billion for Qatar. Oman and Bahrain maintain relatively smaller — by regional standards — funds of $19 billion and $11 billion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A consortium of private equity fund ChrysCapital and Singapore government’s sovereign wealth fund GIC has emerged as the front-runner to purchase growth capital fund New Silk Route’s (NSR) 100% stake in retail financial services and distribution company Destimoney.
“ChrysCapital has teamed up with GIC to bid for the financial services company. They seem to have gained a clear edge over rival bidders,” said a person directly involved with the transaction………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Future Fund board chairman, Peter Costello believes David Neal, the fund’s current chief investment officer, is the best qualified person for the managing director’s role. The former Federal Treasurer announced that Neal will takeover from interim managing director, and chief financial officer, Paul Mann, as head of the $100 billion sovereign wealth fund in August following an extensive global search for the ideal candidate.
Costello said the search process confirmed that Neal was the best qualified candiate for the position………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Can anybody please explain to me quite why the country’s flagship sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional pulled a US$500m exchangeable sukuk transaction the week before last, when the deal looked as tickety-boo in execution as any equity-linked deal you’re likely to cast eyes on?
The book was covered, and more than 50 top end investors had circled orders, but apparently Khazanah’s treasurers found their inability to print at the finest of margins irksome and so they pulled the trade. They missed the chance to bring a deal in decent size in a market where global equity indices were printing record highs and at spreads that might not be revisited for a while………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Japan’s government is readying to unfetter its huge public pension fund, freeing managers to dump low-yield sovereign bonds and go in search of higher, but riskier returns, in a move that could see cash flood global markets. The nation’s pension programme, into which almost all citizens pay, is supported by the world’s largest investment fund, worth a staggering USD 1.26 trillion equivalent to one-quarter of the country’s entire economy.
It towers over its nearest competitor, the USD 700 billion belonging to Norway — and is multiples of the USD 173 billion holdings of Temasek, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Azerbaijan’s sovereign wealth fund will invest up to $1.8 billion in China’s renminbi this year, one of the biggest publicly-acknowledged investments in China’s currency. Shahmar Movsumov, the chief executive of the $37 billion State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan, said that the fund is applying for permission from Chinese regulators to access local currency assets and wants to start investing in them by the end of this year.
“It’s one of the currencies that are becoming important, so why not invest in renminbi?” Movsumov said, according to the Financial Times. “We are in the process of getting all the necessary preparations.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Samena Capital and a group of international investors including two Gulf sovereign wealth funds have completed the purchase of a 30.6 per cent stake in Ras Al Khaimah Ceramics, the investment firm said in a statement on Sunday. The fund, acting through Cayman Islands-registered subsidiary Samena Limestone Holdings, will have two seats on the board of one of the world’s biggest makers of floor tiles, following the acquisition.
The statement did not name the other investors in the consortium. But in a separate bourse filing, RAK Ceramics said it had amended its rules so citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states were treated as equivalent to UAE shareholders — suggesting the investors come from outside the UAE………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has been admitted into the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds - IFSWF. A statement on Thursday, said the NSIA was admitted by the IFSWF at its board meeting of May 28, 2014, “based on your proven willingness to endorse, on a voluntary basis, the Santiago Principles.”
The IFSWF, a voluntary group of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), was established by the International Working Group of Sovereign Wealth Funds in April 2009, to among others promote “understanding of the Santiago Principles - a set of 24 guidelines for the operation of SWFs.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source