Norway’s $890 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, is building up its organization and preparing for a move into infrastructure and private equity, its chief executive officer said.
The fund, in a strategy document released yesterday, revealed it was boosting its staff by about 60 percent over the next three years to tackle increased investments in real estate and said it’s preparing for more investments in assets “with income streams that grow in line with the global economy.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Norway’s $890bn oil fund is accelerating its push to become a more active investor as the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund said it would double the number of companies it owned big stakes in over the next three years.
In its 2014-2016 strategy published on Tuesday, Norges Bank Investment Management, the manager of the oil fund, showed how it would deal with the challenges of its ever-increasing size, having tripled its assets since 2007………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Which country has the largest sovereign wealth fund? The UK? Germany? Guess again… with just a population of four million people, it’s Norway. Norges Bank Investment Management has benefited from the country’s vast oil wealth, tripling its assets under management (AUM) since the financial crisis to $888bn.
To ensure that it can cope with the surge of inflows, it has announced that it will expand its mandate to invest more actively in both bonds and equities over the next years, which some experts believe could provide a boost for two markets in particular. Managers of the fund will widen its mandate to include frontier markets for the first time and will more than double the number of large companies it has more than 5 per cent in – from 45 to 100……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the arm of Norway’s central bank responsible for managing the country’s $884 billion sovereign wealth fund, is set to establish a global real estate investment team to invest $27 billion over the next three years in private real estate.
NBIM today released its strategy through to 2016, saying the size of the management company will grow from 370 today to 600 over the period, including 200 dedicated to real estate investment. The majority of new hires, it said, will be investment professionals in the fund’s international offices………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s $888 billion sovereign wealth fund plans to bring more of its real estate portfolio under in-house management as part of a move to broaden its portfolio. Laying out its plan for 2014-16 in a strategy report published this morning, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM)—the group responsible for the management of the Government Pension Fund Global—said it would add “new frontier markets” to its equity portfolio, as well as include more currencies in its fixed income allocation and take larger stakes in companies.
NBIM said it planned to invest 1% of the fund a year—roughly equal to $9 billion according to the fund’s current size—into private real estate markets between 2014 and 2016. The group also stated its intention to take on full ownership of more property investments………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, already a major investor in New York City real estate, is looking to grow its sizable property portfolio over the next three years. The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund plans to invest 1 percent of its overall portfolio, or about $9 billion, in the private real estate market in each of the next three years, the New York Times reported.
Real estate now accounts for roughly 1.2 percent of the fund’s overall portfolio. But under Norway’s current government guidelines, that portion can be expanded to as much as 5 percent. The planned investment expansion will be concentrated in New York, Washington and Boston in the U.S., as well as Paris, the fund told the Times………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The executive Director of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) has been elected to Supervisory Council of VTB Bank. According to the Fund, such decision was taken at the General Meeting of the Bank’s shareholders held on June20, 2014 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
“Shahmar Movsumov was re-elected as an independent member of the Supervisory Council of VTB Bank OJSC”, - the Bank informs. In 2013 SOFAZ purchased newly issued shares by the VTB Bank OJSC in the amount of USD 500 million and acquired 2.99 % of total shares of the Bank………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As a result of its investment strategies, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has revealed that it earned N1.2 billion as at the end of the first quarter of 2014 by investing only 20 per cent of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF). The agency stated that its first quarter 2014 performance was wholly in line with its projections.
The Managing Director, NSIA, Mr. Uche Orji, who revealed this while briefing the media in Lagos also said that the agency’s audited net profit for the period stood at N1.2 billion. He pointed out that with the changing interest rate landscape in key global markets, the NSIA would be adjusting its asset allocation strategies to take advantage of inherent benefits………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund earned $2.1 billion in interest in 2013-14, with a record 16-per-cent return on investment. The heritage fund is Alberta’s long-term savings account. It currently holds roughly $17.5 billion. Established in 1976, it was originally meant to save non-renewable resource revenue for future generations.
In recent years, the government has transferred most of the interest to general revenues to be spent. In total, interest from the fund has contributed roughly $36.5 billion to pay Alberta’s annual expenses. Over the next three years, however, the money taken out of the fund will be gradually reduced to zero………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Alberta government says its nest egg earned $2.1 billion in the last fiscal year — a 16 per cent rate of return. The value of the Heritage Savings Trust Fund now sits at $17.5 billion.
Most of the money earned is being moved into general revenue to pay for government programs. Just under $200 million is being kept in the fund, as required by law, to protect against inflation………………………………………..Full Article: Source