August newsmakers: NF Trinity, Dinesh Hinduja Family Office, PFJC
Who says August is a slow month for news? AsianInvestor had a bountiful crop of asset owners exclusives published across the month.
The team was busy speaking to top executives across the region. Here are some of our best highlights of the month.
Why India's ultra-rich are eyeing family offices overseas
Lifestyle options. Asset diversification. Strategic vision of the family. Succession planning. Tax advantages.
These are some of many reasons why India's ultra-rich families are mulling setting up family offices overseas.
AsianInvestor spoke to Jai Rupani, principal and chief investment officer of the Dinesh Hinduja family office, about some of the drivers and dynamics of this emerging trend.
Nan Fung family office adds non-dollar assets, eyes broader US exposure
Hong Kong business conglomerate Nan Fung Group’s family office, NF Trinity, has increased its allocation to non-dollar assets this year amid the reopening of Asian economies and a robust US economy.
The family office is also looking at incrementally broadening its exposure in the US stock market beyond the tech sector to financials, cyclicals, and consumer discretionary, according to Helen Zhu, NF Trinity's managing director and chief investment officer.
Endowment CEO sees high growth, more fund launches in India
India's budding endowments industry is brimming with potential and the increasing number of academic institutions setting up their own funds is inspiring many more to do the same, a top industry executive told AsianInvestor.
"I see the phenomenon of endowments in India as an emerging trend," Chhavi Moodgal, CEO of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) Endowment Fund, told AsianInvestor.
Several institutes are being inspired to start their own endowment funds, she said.
Japan's PFJC corporate pension invests in Australian farmland
The Pension Fund of Japanese Corporations (PFJC), which manages several corporate pension plans, will soon be venturing into Australian farmland as part of its investment portfolio.
“We find farmland to be an attractive investment strategy because the sector and the assets play an important role in all economies – and we have no investments in the sector now so it provides us with further diversification,” Yoshisuke (Yoshi) Kiguchi, chief investment officer at PFJC, told AsianInvestor.
Thailand's GPF keen to expand PE allocation, tie-ups
Thailand’s Government Pension Fund (GPF) plans to expand its private equity programme and is also considering partnerships with other institutional investors in projects that do environmental or social good, a senior executive told AsianInvestor.
“We are looking at expanding our private equity programme,” said Man Juttijudata, deputy secretary general responsible for investment strategy, outsourcing fund management and sustainable investments at GPF.
Juttijudata was also selected as AsianInvestor’s Top 20 pension executives in Asia earlier this year.
NEWS FEATURES HIGHLIGHTS
August was also a good month for reporting on topical issues and other features. Here are two you should definitely read.
Singapore anti-money laundering rules to raise bar for family offices
Singapore has in the past two years attracted hundreds of single-family offices (SFOs) as it has offered a safe haven for the assets of rich-but-jittery mainland Chinese and other wealthy individual investors.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS’s) most recent response to the explosive growth of the SFO sector, unveiled at the end of last month, is a set of proposed anti-money laundering (AML) requirements that SFOs must satisfy unless they wish to submit to the much more burdensome regulation that banks and securities businesses face.
Some family offices are becoming wary about investing in private markets, even as many other asset owners continue to pile into these alternative asset classes.
The biggest attraction of these assets has been the returns, but given recent turbulence of public markets, staying nimble with selective and tactical plays may be the best strategy in the current economic environment, Singapore-based family offices told AsianInvestor.
