5th March, 2024
Gulf states have tended to use soft power to gain geopolitical influence via economic and cultural relations, particularly in the MENA and Central Asian regions. The cold war within the GCC has subsided with a deal between Doha and a Saudi-led alliance over Qatar’s alleged closeness to the Muslim Brotherhood. Yet, rivalries are still heated and they are vying for regional influence and at a time of heightened geopolitical sensitivities, with this week seeing Saudi Arabia cement its ties with Bahrain via their sovereign funds while Qatar's QIA is deepening its exposure to Uzbekistan.
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4th March, 2024
South Korea’s massive US$800 billion National Pension Service (NPS) could be reversing its global diversification push with reports that it will plunge KRW11 trillion (US$8.2 billion) into domestic public equities, after reporting its best ever annual return.
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1st March, 2024
With a population of less than a million people, Bhutan is known for its mountains, monasteries, and the thunder dragon (“druk”) featured in its flag. Its Sovereign Wealth Fund, Druk Holding & Investment (DHI), manages some of the country’s national champions and also invests in international securities and digital assets. We had the pleasure of speaking with its CEO, Mr. Ujjwal Deep Dahal, about the fund’s strategy and future objectives.
29th February, 2024
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has tapped global markets for a mega-sukuk worth US$2 billion, bringing its total debt to an estimated US$36 billion - and it unlikely to stop its borrowing spree.
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28th February, 2024
Last year’s venture capital drought has given way to a deluge of investment with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) the latest to open the sluice gates of funds for startups.
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27th February, 2024
The UAE is set to funnel US$35 billion into the Egyptian economy with infrastructure-oriented sovereign fund ADQ set to lead the capital injection by a consortium of investors, which could move the North African country from life support to economic resurrection.
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26th February, 2024
The real estate slump dragged down the investment returns for two of Canada’s biggest public pension funds, CDPQ and OMERS, which reported their annual results in recent days - results that confirmed Global SWF's finding of a negative correlation between one-year returns and allocation to alternatives in 2023.
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23rd February, 2024
Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala continues to aggressively push its investment in the financial services sector, taking a leading role in the acquisition of a chunky equity stake in the US’s fifth largest insurance broker, Truist Insurance Holdings (TIH), alongside co-investors Stone Point Capital and CD&R.
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22nd February, 2024
Decarbonization Partners – the partnership formed by BlackRock and Singaporean state investor Temasek – has struck its seventh deal, leading a US$150 million funding round for thermal battery maker Antora Energy.
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21st February, 2024
South Korea is increasingly seen as an alternative Developed Asian market among state-owned investors, with Canadian pension giant CPP and its Dutch peer APG among the leaders – and this week demonstrated that Asian industrial real estate giant ESR remains their favored partner.
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20th February, 2024
Indian highways could receive another capital boost from Canada, despite the geopolitical ructions between Delhi and Ottawa, with CDPQ among those expressing interest in acquiring a roads portfolio from India’s quasi-sovereign wealth fund, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).
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19th February, 2024
PIF’s US public equities portfolio fell 3.4% q-o-q to US$35.2 billion in Q4 2023, dragged down by the value of its holding in EV maker Lucid Motors but also including the divestment of a chunky gaming stock, according to its latest 13F filing.
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