Weekly Digest: Temasek invests in Australian ETF manager; HK wealth fund invests in AI unicorn
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK
Temasek Holdings will invest up to A$300 million ($198 million) in Australian exchange-traded fund (ETF) manager Betashares.
Temasek will hold an undisclosed minority stake in Betashares, joining its staff members and private equity firm TA Associates as shareholders.
Betashares manages over A$38 billion in assets and serves over a million investors in Australia, according to its website.
Source: Betashares
Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC) announced its first investment since inception in home-grown artificial intelligence (AI) unicorn SmartMore.
The two entities formed a partnership under which SmartMore will use Hong Kong as its base of development, including making Hong Kong its first choice of initial public offering.
It will also establish an academy to train AI talent in Hong Kong and team up with HKIC on development in the Greater Bay Area. HKIC may also co-invest in some projects with the company, a source said.
Source: Hong Kong SAR government; South China Morning Post
OTHER INVESTMENT NEWS
CHINA
China's securities regulator said that it welcomes foreign financial institutions and investors, including those from the Middle East, to expand investment in China.
The statement was made in response to a Reuters request seeking comment on news that Qatar's sovereign wealth fund had agreed to buy a 10% stake in China Asset Management Co (ChinaAMC), the country's second biggest mutual fund company.
"The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) will continue to promote high-level opening of China's capital markets," it said in a statement to Reuters.
Source: Reuters
INDONESIA
Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund and its co-investors have invested IDR50.1 trillion ($3.2 billion) in investments within the country since the fund was created in 2021.
From that cumulative figure, the Indonesian state investor had deployed about IDR31.3 trillion ($2.1 billion), it said in its 2023 annual report.
About 86% of those investments were made in infrastructure.
Source: INA
JAPAN
Japan's Nippon Life Insurance announced guidelines for extending transition finance loans to steelmakers and utilities, which it hopes will serve as a benchmark for domestic lenders and businesses.
Transition finance aims to offer funds to high-emitting companies to shift towards greener operations.
Nippon Life Insurance has devised quantitative measurements to assess whether a company or its project meets standards set under the Paris agreement on climate change, and is applicable for transition finance loans.
Source: Nippon Life
KOREA
The National Pension Service has decided to oppose the appointment of Lim Jong-yoon as an inside director of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group at the upcoming extraordinary shareholders' meeting of the drug company on June 18.
NPS opposes the appointment of Lim for his low board meeting attendance rate during his last term, ending in March this year, well below the NPS' guideline of 75%.
Lim's board meeting attendance rate is known to be around 12.5% so far this year and 50% last year.
Lim, the eldest son of the founder of Hanmi, is expected to take the position as he and his aides hold a controlling stake in the pharmaceutical company, according to industry sources.
Source: The Korea Herald
The Public Officials Benefit Association (POBA) is seeking an asset manager to appraise its overseas equities investments.
Applicants must present a track record of minimum three years of offering investment evaluation services to financial and government institutions, with a net asset value of minimum W5 billion ($3.65 million).
Source: POBA
MALAYSIA
Employees Provident Fund, which posted a big income gain from its stock market investments, is upbeat about the domestic economy and “more positive” on global growth, warning however that risks are still high because of higher interest rates, China’s property crisis, and geopolitical tensions.
Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn, chief executive officer of Malaysia’s largest pension fund, says the domestic economy is expected to see “solid growth” this year, driven by strong domestic demand and exports recovery.
Source: Asia Asset Management
THE PHILIPPINES
The Philippines’ state-run Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has hired consulting firm Ernst & Young and its local affiliate to create a blueprint to upgrade the pension fund’s technology infrastructure for its digital transformation.
EY and SyCip Gorres Velayo & Company will work on the fund's enterprise architecture project, including information technology infrastructure, in order to improve its long-term profitability through streamlined operations and expanded service offerings, GSIS said in a statement on June 6.
Source: GSIS, Asia Asset Management
SINGAPORE
GIC entered the Australian self-storage market via a A$270 million ($178 million) joint venture with National Storage REIT (NSR).
GIC will be the majority partner holding 75% of the National Storage Ventures Fund, and NSR, the remaining 25%.
The fund will develop and operate self-storage centres across Australia and aims to deploy around A$270 million over the initial 12 to 18 months period.
The Ventures JV will acquire and develop an initial portfolio of 10 foundation assets sourced from NSR’s existing development portfolio.
Source: NSR
The above briefs were curated from company news releases and third-party sources.