January newsmakers: HKMA, PGGM, Chow Tai Fook family office
Our top newsmakers are curated by the AsianInvestor team and highlights the big interviews and news coverage of asset owners and other key developments in the asset management industry during the month.
If you missed any of these top stories, here's your read the best of the month.
HKMA Exchange Fund: How it selects external managers
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s HK$4 trillion ($512 billion) Exchange Fund is one of the biggest asset owners in the city.
The de facto central bank directly manages the majority of the Exchange Fund’s investments, and a portion of it is managed by external managers.
This piece highlighted some key elements of its manager selection process.
Chow Tai Fook family office plans to ride travel recovery wave
Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) is increasing its risk appetite in real estate and private equity as it bets on inflation peaking and China reopening in 2023.
With real estate investment one of its core strategies, CTFE, the investment arm of the Cheng family in Hong Kong, is particularly bullish on the hospitality sector globally, according to Managing Principal Kenneth Lau.
Lau spoke at the Asia Private Equity Forum 2023 in Hong Kong. Read the story to find out what he said about 'revenge travel'.
Singapore single family office explains private equity approach
Private equity’s appeal for family offices in the region is likely to endure in the coming year, regardless of challenges that have seen even low-hanging fruit become more difficult to pluck, according to Singapore-based single-family office JRT Partners.
Tuck Meng Yee, JRT Partners' founder, said despite the more difficult operating environment, some of the innate features of PE investment will ensure it remains in sharp focus for family offices in the region.
He also shared insights on the approach the family offices takes towards private equity investments.
Asset owners look to artificial intelligence to fill ESG data gaps
Asset owners are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to collect or infer ESG information across public and private markets, even as they acknowledge the limitations of these new technologies and the importance of human mediation.
AI has played a central role in the development of the ESG taxonomy employed by Sustainable Development Investment Asset Owner Platform (SDI AOP), an initiative founded by AustralianSuper, PGGM, APG and Canada’s British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) in 2020, whose asset owner members collectively account for $1.5 trillion AUM.
More developments are expected in this space.
PGGM puts brakes on Asian property investment
Netherlands-based pension fund PGGM is slowing the pace of its Asian property allocations as part of a worldwide brake on new investments in its €18 billion ($19.07 billion) global property portfolio.
Maarten Jennen, a senior director and strategist for private real estate at PGGM Investments, the investment management arm of the €277 billion fund, told AsianInvestor that the need to rebalance its portfolio following falls in its equity and fixed-income portfolios last year, in addition to sharp moves in currencies, meant the fund was slowing down its property investing.
Jennen also spoke about other plans for 2023.
GIC, Temasek emerge as 2022's most active sovereign investors
This was our most read story for the month and was based on a GlobalSWF report. Singapore's state-owned investment companies made landmark deals in 2022, although the expectation is that they could adopt a more cautious attitude in 2023.
The major trend of the year was the re-emergence of mega-deals, defined as investments of $1 billion or more.
The two largest tickets were paid by Temasek and GIC. Temasek acquired UK testing company Element for $7 billion in January, and GIC spent roughly the same amount in taking private Arizona-based real estate investment trust Store Capital, alongside private equity firm Oak Street.
Other SWF trends through 2022 were also flagged in this story.
