Weekly Digest: GIC eyes European logistics giant; Mubadala buys China medical firm
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK
A consortium comprising CVC Capital Partners, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), and Singapore's GIC has bid for Deutsche Bahn's logistics division, Schenker.
The offer values the business at around €14 billion ($15.65 billion), with potential to increase to €16 billion ($17.9 billion) if the German government opts for a minority stake.
Danish transport firm DSV has also reportedly submitted an offer for Schenker.
Meanwhile, A.P. Moeller-Maersk withdrew from the bidding process in early July. Deutsche Bahn initiated the sale of Schenker in December 2023, aiming to reduce debt and focus on its core rail business.
Source: Morningstar; WSJ
Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala and Singapore-based asset management CBC will acquire the Chinese neurology and allergy business of UCB, a Belgian biopharmaceutical firm, for $680 million.
This transaction involves the sale, divestment and license of UCB’s mature business (neurology and allergy) in China, including Keppra, Vimpat, Neupro, and the Zhuhai manufacturing site.
Source: UCB
The Communist Party chief of Xinjiang has held talks with top executives from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, as the western Chinese region continues its efforts to boost foreign investment.
Ma Xingrui, party secretary for the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, met Temasek chairman Lim Boon Heng and executive director and CEO Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara in the regional capital Urumqi, the official Xinjiang Daily reported.
One focus of the talks was the energy sector, including traditional sources such as oil, gas and coal, as well as new energy such as wind and solar power, the paper said.
Source: SCMP
OTHER INVESTMENT NEWS
AUSTRALIA
Swedish pension fund Forsta AP-fonden (AP1) is downsizing its Australian farmland holdings.
The fund has listed approximately A$50 million ($34 million) worth of cropping properties in Western Australia's Great Southern region for sale.
The 5,595-hectare holding is part of a larger portfolio that AP1 acquired over a decade ago.
Source: AFR
Australian Retirement Trust (ART), the second-largest pension fund in Australia, is set to acquire a majority stake in New Zealand's Powerco.
The deal, expected to be finalised this week, will see ART purchase an additional 33% stake, bringing its total ownership to 58%.
This acquisition follows QIC’s April announcement to sell its Powerco stake. Dexus Group will retain a 42% holding in the energy distributor.
Powerco, valued at around NZ$3.5 billion ($2.2 billion), supplies electricity and gas to over 900,000 customers across New Zealand's North Island.
Source: AFR
Perth-based property group Hawaiian has agreed to purchase Queensland-backed invesment manager QIC's 50% share of Claremont Quarter in Western Australia, pending regulatory approval.
The acquisition will make Hawaiian the sole owner of the shopping center, building on their existing 50% stake.
QIC held its stake through its Property Fund and Town Centre Fund. The sale price reportedly exceeded QIC's book value. The deal is expected to be completed by late October 2024.
Source: QIC
CHINA
Authorities have pledged to make China’s Rmb2.88 trillion ($405 billion) social security fund “bigger and stronger”, allowing it to serve as a safety net for a rapidly aging population.
The pension fund would also increase investment in the domestic capital market, especially strategic sectors, National Council for Social Security Fund party secretary and vice chair Ding Xuedong said.
“[The National Social Security Fund is] a strategic reserve fund for social security needs during the peak period of population ageing, and is the anchor of the country’s social security system,” Ding said, in an article published by the Study Times, the Central Party School’s official newspaper, on August 19.
Source: South China Morning Post
JAPAN
Nippon Life’s investment income grew 1.9% to $7.59 billion (¥1.1 trillion) in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter in 2023.
The net income grew to $769.73 million (¥111.7 billion) in the quarter, compared to $21.74 million (¥3.15 billion) the previous year.
Likewise, revenues from the insurance and reinsurance segments climbed 7.6% year-on-year (YoY) to $13.8 billion (¥2 trillion).
Source: Nippon Life
INDIA
The Indian government approved the Unified Pension Scheme for federal government employees.
Federal Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw said that employees could opt between the plan and the National Pension Scheme (NPS), which is already in force.
The new pension scheme will come into effect from April 1, 2025 and will be fully funded, similar to NPS, according to media reports.
Source: Government of India
State-owned investor Temasek is in advanced discussions to lead a $100-150 million investment in Rebel Foods, parent of Faasos, Behrouz Biryani and other cloud kitchen brands, according to sources.
The proposed deal will be a mix of primary and secondary share sales, and the Mumbai-based unicorn will face a nearly flat valuation compared to its previous round nearly three years ago.
The secondary sale — where existing investors partly divest to Temasek — is likely to occur at a lower valuation of around $700 million, said sources.
Source: The Economic Times
KOREA
The National Pension Service (NPS) is set to veto SK Innovation Co.'s plan to merge with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) affiliate — a move that would jeopardise the conglomerate SK Group’s restructuring efforts.
NPS, SK Innovation’s second-largest shareholder with a 6.21% stake, rejected the merger plan at the company’s August 27 extraordinary shareholder meeting.
The pension fund said the merger with the unlisted SK E&S Co. would hurt the shareholder value of SK Innovation.
NPS’ decision is expected to cause other institutional investors to reject the merger as many of them usually follow the pension manager’s moves.
Source: NPS/Ministry of Health and Welfare
MALAYSIA
The Malaysian government is refining plans for a new civil service pension scheme and may announce the details by the end of the year, according to Amir Hamzah Azizan, the second finance minister.
He said the government had announced early in 2024 that new civil servants, including those hired on contract, will contribute to the Employees Provident Fund, which manages the retirement savings of private sector employees and the self-employed.
“The plan is still being refined by the Public Service Department. By the end of the year, we will hopefully have some clarification on that, on what will be done,” he said.
Source: Asia Asset Management
SINGAPORE
The average one-year return of funds included in Singapore’s Central Provident Fund Investment Scheme underperformed global equity indexes despite achieving a positive return of 9.69%, according to a Morningstar report.
In comparison, the MSCI World one-year return as of June 30 was 20.36%, while the MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan returned 13.05%.
The funds also underperformed the FTSE All-World Index that returned 19.7% and the FTSE Asia ex-Japan Index that posted a 14% return.
CPF had S$580 billion ($429.2 billion) in assets as of March.
Source: Morningstar
TAIWAN
Taiwan’s Shin Kong Financial Holding agreed to merge with a smaller rival in a deal that sets up a takeover battle for Shin Kong with another suitor, CTBC Financial Holding.
Shin Kong and Taishin Financial Holding will combine via a share swap, the two companies said at a press briefing on August 22.
Under the terms of the deal, which has been under discussion for more than two years, Taishin will issue new shares and swap 0.6022 of its common shares for each share of Shin Kong.
Source: Bloomberg
MIDDLE EAST
Saudi Arabia’s National Development Fund (NDF) appointed Northern Trust as custodian for the $16 billion-plus of assets managed by the sovereign wealth fund.
The move is aimed at “improved asset management, increased financial transparency, and efficiency by integrating and simplifying financial operations related to asset management, leading to reduced operating costs, increased effectiveness, and improved operational efficiency and financial security”, NDF said in a statement on August 22.
Source: NDF
The above briefs were curated from company news releases and third-party sources.