Weekly Digest: Prudential, CDPQ invest in transition fund; GIC report warns of climate hit to real estate
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK
GIC, Prudential, Temasek, and CDPQ have invested in Brookfield Asset Management’s Catalytic Transition Fund (CTF), which had an initial closing of $2.4 billion to invest in clean energy and transition assets in emerging markets.
CTF was launched at COP28 with up to $1 billion of catalytic capital provided by Alterra funds, a private investment vehicle for climate finance based in the United Arab Emirates.
The Fund expects to announce its initial investments later in 2024, and a traditional first close – with additional capital from Brookfield’s ongoing fundraising efforts through its network of institutional investors – is expected by early 2025.
Source: Brookfield Asset Management
From intensifying storms to wildfires and droughts, physical risks from climate change could cost the real estate industry well over $500 billion by 2050, according to a new report co-authored by the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore.
Researchers at GIC and S&P Global analysed the potential impact of climate hazards on more than 50,000 real estate assets held by companies in the S&P Global REIT Index.
Those properties could face some $110 billion in excess costs by the end of the decade, without investments in adaptation infrastructure.
By 2050, total costs could rise to $559 billion or 28% of the asset value of the index as of July 2024.
Source: Bloomberg
The Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) and Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) have formed a strategic partnership to co-invest in Indonesia's economic growth, particularly in infrastructure and energy transition projects.
The collaboration, formalised through a memorandum of understanding, aims to deploy up to $200 million annually into hybrid capital solutions.
Source: Allianz GI
OTHER INVESTMENT NEWS
AUSTRALIA
The Infrastructure Fund (TIF), managed by Macquarie Asset Management, State Super, and Australian Retirement Trust have agreed to sell their combined 74.25% stake in Queensland Airports Limited (QAL) to a consortium comprising KKR and the Skip Essential Infrastructure Fund.
The selling shareholders had invested significantly in upgrading QAL's airports, particularly Gold Coast Airport, which saw over A$500 million ($347 million) in expansion and improvements over the past five years.
The transaction value was not disclosed.
Source: State Super
Trading and investment platform eToro agreed to acquire Australian superannuation and investment company Spaceship in a deal worth up to A$80 million ($55.5 million).
The acquisition marks eToro's entry into the Australian superannuation sector and expands its local business.
Spaceship, which manages about A$1.5 billion ($1 billion) in funds, including $860 million in superannuation across 21,000 member accounts, will retain its brand and name.
Source: eToro
JAPAN
Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company announced that it has invested in Sakana AI K.K., a Japanese startup developing next-generation foundation models to advance generative AI technology and its practical applications in society.
Through this investment, the insurer aims to accelerate efforts with Sakana AI to solve societal challenges.
Source: Dai-ichi Life Insurance
KOREA
Korea’s national pension fund, one of the world’s biggest, will run out by 2056 if urgent reforms including boosting contributions aren’t introduced, the government said.
“The fund will reach its peak in 2041, then could be fully drained in 2056 according to our financial estimates,” Korea’s first vice health minister, Lee Ki-il, told a media briefing. “If there are no reforms, the drainage would be faster.”
The government’s previous estimate had been for 2055. The one-year delay is due to the growth in funds of the National Pension Service.
Source: Bloomberg
Korea will triple the maximum amount of foreign currency that the National Pension Service can buy in advance to $3 billion per month starting October, to mitigate foreign exchange market fluctuations as the pension fund seeks to boost its overseas investments.
The previous ceiling for the advance purchase was set at $1 billion per month, when the fund signed the initial swap agreement in 2022.
It is unclear whether the pension fund has exhausted the previous limit or how much buffer is left. The pension fund will be allowed to buy $6 billion of foreign currency per quarter, and $150 million per day, under the new guidelines.
Source: Bloomberg
SINGAPORE
Temasek plans to set aside S$100 million ($78 million) as concessional capital for climate action, Chairmand Lim Boon Heng said.
“Climate change is the defining crisis of our time. At Temasek, we have been investing in sustainability across the years, and have deployed commercial capital to scale innovation for the green transition,” he said.
"At the same time, we see the criticality of concessional capital to catalyse financing into emerging markets and developing economies.
"Blended finance initiatives like the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (FAST-P) are key in lining up long-term investors and philanthropic entities alongside commercial investors for this purpose," he said.
Source: Temasek
THE PHILIPPINES
KKR & Co and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC have appointed Bank of America, Jefferies and UBS to sell their majority stake in the Philippines' Metro Pacific Health in a deal that could value the company at $3.2 billion, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
A sale process could start as early as the fourth quarter of this year, or the first quarter of 2025, one of the people said.
Source: Reuters
The above briefs were curated from company news releases and third-party sources.