China Investment Corp failed to conduct adequate due diligence on overseas investments which led to losses, the mainland’s auditor finds. The mainland’s US$575 billion sovereign wealth fund mismanaged some of its overseas investments between 2008 and last year that led to losses, the National Audit Office said yesterday without specifying the size of the loss.
It said some employees of China Investment Corp (CIC) did not conduct adequate due diligence before investing in 12 overseas projects in the past six years. And they subsequently also failed to track the performance of those investments, it said………………………………….Full Article: Source

Mismanagement at China Investment Corp, the nation’s US$575 billion sovereign wealth fund, led to overseas investment losses that could widen, according to the National Audit Office.
A dereliction of duty by managers and inadequate due diligence and post- investment management were identified in 12 investments made abroad by the fund between 2008 and 2013, according to results of an audit conducted last year. Six of the deals were unprofitable, four of them had unrealized losses, and two may potentially lose money. The report released yesterday did not name the investments or disclose their size………………………………….Full Article: Source

China’s government auditing agency said Wednesday that last year it found financial irregularities at two big state banks and the nation’s sovereign-wealth fund and that all three need to tighten their management.
The National Audit Office said it had uncovered management failures related to investments at China Investment Corp., the country’s sovereign-wealth fund, as well as irregular lending at Bank of China Ltd and Agricultural Development Bank of China.The auditor said that CIC and the state banks had largely addressed the problems as of May………………………………….Full Article: Source

The new CIO of Korea Investment Corporation has leapt to the sovereign fund’s defence, decrying the negative stigma attached to its loss-making investment in Merrill Lynch as unrepresentative of its achievements.
Choo Heung Sik praised KIC’s performance since it started international investment in 2006 as phenomenal.”KIC began from scratch; no one helped us,”said Choo, referencing Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, which enjoyed a three-year incubation period with support from the Monetary Authority of Singapore………………………………….Full Article: Source

Fair trade watchdog CCI has approved the proposed joint venture between American Express and Juweel Investors, part of sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding, saying the deal is unlikely to have an adverse impact on competition in India.
Under the deal, American Express’ global business travel services, which also has India presence, would be transferred to the new joint venture — GBT III B V. The joint venture is between American Express and Juweel — a special purpose vehicle set up by Qatar Holding and certain other investors. “The Commission is of the opinion that the proposed combination is not likely to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India,” CCI said in an order………………………………….Full Article: Source

The largest shareholders of oil refiner Caltex and property developer Goodman Group are under close scrutiny for potential block trades worth a collective $3.8 billion after Shell’s $6.1bn exit from Woodside Petroleum this week.
Should sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation and energy giant Chevron exit Goodman Group and Caltex, they will follow Royal Dutch Shell’s selldown of its 19 per cent stake in Woodside Petroleum on Tuesday, $3.2bn of which was subject to a block trade………………………………….Full Article: Source

The successful restructuring of bankrupt oil producer Óleo e Gás Participações SA will allow Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista to move forward with plans to cut his own debt, three sources with direct knowledge of the situation said.
Batista and his EBX holding company have been in talks to renegotiate about $2 billion owed to Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Development Co PJSC, the sources said. Batista may offer assets, including stakes in firms he either controls or has a stake in, to speed up the process, they said………………………………….Full Article: Source

Federal Government announced N3.73 billion as the balance in the Excess Crude Account saying that the amount rose from N3.6 billion in April to the level in May. Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Jonah Otunla, also revealed N648.349 billion was the total allocation shared by the three ters of government.
The amount represented N582.934 billion Statutory Allocation and N65.415 billion realised from the Value Added Tax (VAT), making the total distributable revenue for the month to be N648.349 billion which when compared to last month, is N49.177 billion higher, adding that the total allocation to SURE-P as ususaI, is N35.55 billion………………………………….Full Article: Source

Sovereign funds represent a large, thriving pool of sophisticated capital. With nearly US$ 7 trillion in institutional investor assets, sovereign wealth funds have flexed their muscles, acquiring luxury hotels to Indian movie production companies.
Year over year, more sovereign wealth funds are doing direct deals and participating in co-investments with private equity funds, mega pensions and specialist funds………………………………….Full Article: Source