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Investcorp: A Nexus of China-Gulf Economic Relations

8th April, 2024

The China Investment Corporation (CIC) is reportedly in dialogue with Bahrain-based Investcorp to potentially back a US$800 million investment vehicle that will back pre-IPO Middle Eastern companies.

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Sovereign-Backed UK Water Utility Faces Nationalization Amid Crisis

28th March, 2024

The UK’s biggest water utility, Thames Water, which is two-thirds owned by state-owned investors, looks set to be renationalized – at least temporarily – after its shareholders refused to throw it a financial lifeline.

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Water Crisis Does Not Drown Sovereign Investors’ Confidence in UK Infra Assets

3rd January, 2024

The Thames Water debacle has burned the fingers of state-owned investors who had backed the privatized water utility, in the belief infrastructure assets in a stable, well-regulated market like the UK were a safe bet.

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2023 Set to See a Reversal of Record Loss by China's CIC

4th December, 2023

The China Investment Corporation (CIC) followed the trend seen across the sovereign investor universe in 2022, reporting its biggest ever decline in its total portfolio value with an annual return that Global SWF estimates at 10.7% - but the year proved to be exceptional with market indices suggesting that losses have been mostly or fully reversed in 2023 and the world’s second biggest sovereign wealth fund bounced back in the Chinese year of the rabbit.

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Chinese SWFs get new focus and leadership

13th November, 2023

On Friday, Reuters reported that the China Investment Corporation (CIC) finally found a new chief representative officer for its only overseas office, almost a year after it became vacant. Clare Xiaoqing Bai, a Managing Director that currently serves as Global Head of Private Equity, will move from Beijing to New York to replace Hong Zhang, a trained attorney that spent six years trying to improve the relationships and in-roads of CIC with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

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Chinese State Investors Prop Up Chinese Equities

13th October, 2023

China’s state-owned investors are throwing their massive weight behind troubled domestic stocks in a sign that Beijing is using government wealth to stabilize markets.

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Western Investors "de-China-ize", but Singapore and ME Funds Press Further in China

7th September, 2023

 The world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank (NBIM), announced today that it had shut its Shanghai office after 16 years of operation, although it insists the decision was “operational” and it would continue to invest both directly and via funds and Singapore would be used as its hub for the region.

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Movers & Shakers, Summer Edition

11th August, 2023

August is normally a prolific month for appointments and new hires, especially among those funds in the Northern Hemisphere and for those executives with families that need to relocate and find new schools. Here’s an update of what is happening around the human capital of Sovereign Investors:

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Thames Water Crisis Plunges Sovereign Investors in Deep Water

28th June, 2023

The biggest crisis in the UK’s utilities sector has engulfed the country’s biggest water firm, Thames Water, and is challenging the consortium of owners to cough up capital to prevent its collapse.

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Sovereign Funds Safe from English Water Renationalization, Despite Public Anger

6th June, 2023

The ongoing public unease over sewage pollution in Britain’s rivers is fuelling calls for renationalization of the country’s water utilities, challenging the interests of Asian sovereign wealth funds and Canadian public pension funds.

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The Great Escape: CIC Sells London Property at a Loss

30th March, 2023

The China Investment Corporation (CIC) has sold Winchester House in the City of London – its first direct investment in the UK real estate market – at a loss, indicating it could be ditching assets amid rising geopolitical risks.

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ADQ Follows an Emirati Tradition and Snaps Up Major Stake in PE Firm

16th November, 2022

In its first investment in the US, Abu Dhabi’s ADQ has taken a major stake in private equity firm Vistria Capital, following a growing trend among sovereign wealth funds buying equity in General Partnerships.

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