Weekly Digest: GIC eyes Latin American green tech; Dutch pension invests in Australia property
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK
GIC is making a push into Latin American infrastructure, while targeting smaller technology companies in the region.
About 12% of its global investments in infrastructure are allocated to the region, according to chief executive officer Lim Chow Kiat.
The focus is on Brazil and Mexico, the largest markets, with some smaller investments in the Andean region.
More recently, the sovereign wealth fund also set up pools of capital to invest in infrastructure opportunities related to the climate transition.
Source: The Business Times, GIC
PGGM, the Dutch pension fund manager, has invested A$700 million ($462 million) in Apt.Residential to create a build-to-rent platform aimed at developing 2500 apartments across six to eight towers, primarily in Sydney.
This investment, part of a A$1.5 billion development budget, including debt and additional investment by Apt.Residential, marks a significant commitment to Australia's housing market.
The platform, conceptualised by Matt Carolan, former CIO of Urbanest, will focus on projects ranging from 150 to 350 units each. The partnership with PGGM is designed as a long-term, open-ended engagement.
Source: AFR
OTHER INVESTMENT NEWS
HONG KONG
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced the establishment of the Project Ensemble Architecture Community in collaboration with industry players to shape standards and provide suggestions to support the development of Hong Kong’s tokenisation market.
Initially, it consists of the HKMA, the Securities and Futures Commission, the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre, the CBDC Expert Group, and seven members from the private sector, including Bank of China (Hong Kong), HSBC, HashKey Group, Ant Digital Technologies and Microsoft Hong Kong.
The Community aims to develop a set of industry standards to support interoperability among wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), tokenised money, and tokenised assets.
Source: Hong Kong Monetary Authority
INDIA
India's life insurance industry is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10% to Rs13.5 trillion ($216.1 billion) by 2028 from Rs9.3 trillion in 2024 in terms of gross written premiums (GWP), forecasts GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
After slowing down in 2023, the Indian life insurance industry is expected to regain momentum in 2024 due to the increase in demand for traditional life insurance policies.
Additionally, new regulations emphasising inclusivity and advancements in insuretech are expected to facilitate the introduction of new products and expand insurance coverage, according to GlobalData.
Source: Asia Insurance Review
KOREA
The Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association (CWMAA) sent out requests for proposals (RFPs) where it plans to hire 21 managers for domestic and overseas fixed income mandates.
13 managers will be hired for domestic mandates and eight managers will be hire for overseas mandates. Applicants must have an AUM of at least W100 billion (73 million), of which 60% is allocated to fixed income.
The deadline for applications is May 24.
Source CWMAA
SINGAPORE
Atlan Pvt Ltd, a data and artificial intelligence (AI) governance startup, has raised $105 million in a Series C funding round led by GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, along with tech investor Meritech Capital.
Existing investors Salesforce Ventures and Peak XV Partners also participated in the fundraise, bringing Atlan’s total capital raised to over $206 million, the company announced on May 8.
The Singapore-based subsidiary of US-incorporated Atlan Inc. had last raised capital from Salesforce Ventures in July 2022, when it was valued at $450 million. This new capital round values the company at $750 million.
Source: Atlan Inc.
Temasek-backed carbon exchange Climate Impact X will launch a new market intelligence service in the coming months, the company said on May 13.
The new service, CIX Intelligence, will offer access to a trade database comprising thousands of project- or contract-specific transactional data points across the voluntary carbon markets.
Carbon traders, commercial managers and analysts will also be able to access bid, offer and trade data reported by market participants and proprietary data from CIX’s trading venues.
Source: Climate Impact X
Rize, a Singapore-based agritech startup, has secured $14 million in a series A funding round co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GenZero, Temasek, and Wavemaker Impact.
The company plans to use the funds to boost its presence in other markets like Indonesia and Vietnam.
Rize’s platform gathers key agricultural information needed for sustainable farming. By consolidating data on farm performance and crop yields, the company helps rice farmers adapt to climate change, improve their crops, and reduce expenses and water consumption.
Source: Rize
The above briefs have been curated from third-party sources and news releases.