China Investment Corp, the government’s $747bn (£493.2bn) sovereign wealth fund, is shifting its focus to US investments and broader global ambitions as it prepares to move its North American headquarters to New York from Toronto early next year, according to reports.
With its major Canadian investments in the red as energy and mining companies reel from tumbling oil and metal prices, CIC is looking to cut its exposure, and could move to New York as early as March 1, it is claimed. It came as China joined the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, handing the world’s second biggest economy investment routes into Europe, Africa and Middle East………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The glory days of some oil-based sovereign wealth funds could be behind them now that cash-strapped governments are raiding the coffers to plug yawning budget gaps, with investment returns too weak to make up the shortfall. This is forcing some funds to sell assets to find ready cash, raising concerns that if this process accelerates, it could drive down the price of equities and other assets - creating a vicious circle.
Over the past two decades, sovereign wealth fund (SWF) assets have grown to as much as $7 trillion, according to Morgan Stanley, including everything from direct stakes in companies to luxury property assets. But those funds that rely on their governments’ oil export revenues for their main source of new money - such as in Saudi Arabia, Russia or Norway - now face a double whammy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Low oil prices can be devastating for some states. Take Venezuela for example, where oil represents 95% of the country’s exports and more than half of its GDP. Venezuela now suffers from crippling inflation and is on the edge of default. Other states have been more prudent with their money and have buffers in the form of sovereign wealth funds (SWF). (SWFs are state run investment funds that invest in stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, and other alternative investments.)
As of March 2015, sovereign wealth funds around the world held $7.1 trillion in assets according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. Of which about $4.29 trillion is derived from nations dependent on oil and gas revenues. Five of the world’s largest SWFs that depend on energy revenues account for 45% of total global SWF assets………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Singapore’s Temasek Holdings is set to acquire a controlling 72 per cent stake in Hyderabad-based CARE Hospitals from the current private equity owner Advent International for Rs 1,800 crore, edging past competing offers from Abraaj, an emerging markets private equity group.
Temasek had earlier teamed up with TPG Growth to form a consortium but the latter opted out of the race a few weeks back after it was not comfortable with the final contours of the transaction, including the pricing, said three people directly involved in the deal. Once completed, this will arguably be the first time that Temasek acquires a controlling stake in an Indian company on its own. It had earlier this year joined hands with Advent to buy the consumer division of Crompton Greaves………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) affirmed Temasek Holdings’ AAA long-term credit rating and stable outlook yesterday. It made the finding on the basis that the firm will continue to adhere to strict investment guidelines that support the “strong credit characteristics” of its assets portfolio.
S&P’s report said Temasek’s limited debt supports its investment capabilities, allowing it to mobilise “substantial funds on a timely basis to seize opportunities”. Its affirmation of Temasek’s corporate credit ratings also took into account its view of an “extremely high” likelihood of extraordinary support from the Singapore Government, if necessary………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Acting as a cornerstone investor in bond deals is helping GIC Pte boost returns on its fixed-income portfolio as yields persist near record lows and risks start to increase in the bond market, according to Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund.
Companies that issue bonds directly to GIC when it acts as an anchor investor save on underwriting fees and part of those savings are passed on to the wealth fund, Chief Investment Officer Lim Chow Kiat said in an interview with the London-based Sovereign Wealth Center published Tuesday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Federal Court has ordered the shutdown of five investment schemes run by Avestra Asset Management, a Gold Coast fin­ancial services group drawn into Malaysia’s 1MDB crisis. Judge Jonathan Beach made the orders after reading a report from provisional liquidators that found undisclosed related-party transactions, 13 potential breaches of corporate law and failure to invest according to the fund’s individual mandates.
The report, compiled by Simon Wallace-Smith and Richard Hughes of Deloitte and released to The Australian by the court, also reveals that a Cayman Islands vehicle linked to the 1MDB scandal is the owner of the Avestra Credit Fund, which backed a takeover bid against Malaysian company Harvest Court Industries………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Malaysia’s state electricity utility, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has bought a 30 percent stake in Turkey’s GAMA Enerji A.S. for $243 million to expand overseas, it said on Dec. 14.
The announcement comes just days after Tenaga, whose top shareholder is sovereign wealth fund Khazanah, lost a bid to buy the power assets of state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) in November. Shares in Tenaga shot up after that announcement on relief it had effectively avoided bailing out the state fund………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The United Arab Emirates and China have launched a joint strategic investment fund worth $10 billion, the two countries said in a joint statement on UAE state news agency WAM.
The fund will be administered and managed by Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala and a subsidiary of China Development Bank, the statement said. The goal behind the fund’s launch, in which both parties are providing equal financing, is to build a balanced fund that incorporates diversified commercial investments and covers a spectrum of growing sectors………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Moody’s Investors Service has affirmed Botswana’s A2 government bond and issuer ratings with a stable outlook. The sovereign wealth fund, the Pula Fund, had more than $5 billion, or 36.9 per cent of GDP forecast for 2015, at end-September 2015. Moody’s expects that the economic stimulus package the government considers will be limited in size and hence will neither significantly reduce the Pula Funds’s large assets, nor raise Botswana’s government debt-to-GDP ratio.
Low government debt and the large foreign asset positions of the Bank of Botswana (BoB) put the sovereign in a strong net creditor position of about 40% of GDP at the end of 2014. In 2014, the Pula Fund’s foreign assets were twice as high as the government’s outstanding debt………………………………………..Full Article: Source

RAM Ratings has reaffirmed Qatar’s respective global- and ASEAN-scale sovereign ratings of gAA3(pi)/stable and seaAAA(pi)/stable. Besides having the lowest fiscal breakeven oil price in the GCC region after Kuwait, Qatar’s huge sovereign wealth – accumulated from past fiscal surpluses – and reserves totalling 172 per cent of GDP underpin its credit strength and should help it weather a period of low oil and gas prices.
As the downtrend in LNG prices lags that of oil, Qatar is still expected to record a current account surplus of 4.6 per cent of GDP in 2015 (2014: 26 per cent of GDP). Although diversification efforts over the long term (in line with the 2030 Qatar National Vision) has strengthened the State’s resilience, depressed oil prices have led to delays and a re-prioritisation of development projects………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The sovereign wealth fund of Oman (Oman Investment Fund) is buying a portfolio of seven European Hilton hotels. Two of the properties are located in Germany: the Hilton in Dresden (An der Frauenkirche 5) and the Hilton in Düsseldorf (Georg-Glock-Straße 20).
The remaining hotels are in Paris (Airport Charles de Gaulle), Zurich, Strasbourg, Luxemburg, and Barcelona. Market circles estimate the purchase price at around €400mn. The seller is a joint venture of the US hedge fund Baupost and the Westmont Hospitality Group. Baupost was advised by Eastdil Secured………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oil will still account for 93 percent of Kuwait’s revenues during 2015-16, despite the lower price, Industrial Bank of Kuwait chairman Abdulmohsen Al Hunaif reportedly said .Despite analysts including the International Monetary Fund warning for several years that the country’s fiscal position was weak and it needed to diversify, the Kuwaiti government has made little progress.
Instead, its sovereign wealth fund is reportedly considering selling assets. Al Anba newspaper reported in October that the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), which is estimated to have more than $500bn of assets, was studying whether to liquidate assets that generate annual returns of below 9 percent, potentially generating $30bn in sales………………………………………..Full Article: Source