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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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Britannia is Cool Again: Saudis Buy Heathrow, Australians Pledge Billions in Infra

29th November, 2023

The UK is shaking off post-Brexit anxieties and attracting a slew of FDI in its infrastructure investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and two of Australia’s biggest pension fund investors, Aware Super and IFM.

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Abu Dhabi and Bahrain Sovereign Funds Pledge Billions in Strategic Bilateral Deals

20th July, 2023

Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are fond of multi-billion-dollar bilateral agreements and this week was no exception with Bahrain’s Mumtalakat party to a US$1.3 billion pledge to invest in the UK economy while the UAE’s ADQ has promised to stump up US$11.5 billion to support the Turkish economy.

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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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Jury is Still Out on UK Future Fund Success, While a British SWF Remains Elusive

18th May, 2023

Britain’s “Future Fund”, overseen by the state-owned British Business Bank (BBB), is completing its third year of operations this week having delivered GBP1.14 billion of investment in startups during the pandemic – yet performance is mixed, criticism is fierce, and the possibility of a fully-fledged UK sovereign wealth fund remains dim.

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ADIA Bids for Canadian Stake in Leading British Ports Operator

21st February, 2023

Britain’s seaports continue to draw the interest of state-owned investors and Associated British Ports (ABP) could see Canadians pass ownership to Arabs if Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) launches a bid for a 33.9% stake.

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GIC Ramps Up Aggressive Push into British Real Estate

6th February, 2023

The London office real estate market is increasingly attractive as prices drop and the pound sterling remains weak by historical standards.

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Saudi Arabia’s PIF Seeks to Land Jumbo British Airport Acquisition

10th August, 2022

Saudi Arabia’s rapidly growing Public Investment Fund (PIF) could become the biggest shareholder in the UK’s busiest airport if it goes ahead with the acquisition of Ferrovial’s 25% stake.

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Can Middle Eastern SWFs Fulfil their Multi-Billion Bilateral Deals?

27th May, 2022

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is in competition with its Abu Dhabi peers in headline-grabbing multi-billion bilateral memoranda of understanding. Global SWF assesses whether these agreements worth more than the paper they are written on – and if they are simply part of Middle Eastern states’ exertion of soft power.

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UK Real Estate Winning Back Interest from Sovereigns with GIC's Big London Office Investment

25th April, 2022

The acquisition of a 75% stake in Paddington Central – a significant area of prime real estate regeneration in London – by Singaporean sovereign investor GIC demonstrates a revival of interest in the British capital’s real estate market, as it shakes off the risks associated with Brexit and the pandemic.

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