Weekly investor roundup: March 15: AustralianSuper buys 50% share in Canada Water Masterplan
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK:
AUSTRALIA
AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest superannuation fund, has bought a 50% share in Canada Water Masterplan, a retail and commercial property project in England, from British Land Company plc for £290 million (US$367 million).
It has also formed an equally owned joint venture to develop the 214,500 square-metre project, located at Canary Wharf and Shoreditch in London.
AustralianSuper and British Land have each invested £100.5 million in phase one of the project, which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2024.
AustralianSuper had A$242 billion ($175.97 billion) of total assets as of June 2021, with 14.2% allocated to the UK and Europe markets.
Soucre: AustralianSuper
INDONESIA
Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Indonesian Investment Authority (INA), is set to become a limited partner in the Merah Putih Fund as part of efforts to expand its exposure to digital investment opportunities.
“INA will definitely support this … but not as the GP. We’ll invest in Merah Putih Fund as a limited partner,” said INA chief investment officer Stefanus Ade Hadiwidjaja at the Indonesia PE-VC Summit 2022 on Wednesday. (Mar 9)
The $300 million Merah Putih Fund was launched on December 15, 2021, to target Indonesian startups. It was set up by several state-owned enterprises, including Telkom Indonesia, Bank Mandiri, BRI, and BNI.
Based in Jakarta, Merah Putih supports the ecosystem by investing in early-stage capital for promising local startups.
Source: DealStreetAsia
Saudi Arabia has indicated its interest to invest in the Indonesian Investment Authority (INA), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, said its coordinating minister for maritime affairs and investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.
He said he received a form of commitment from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to support the development of Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara during his recent visit to Riyadh.
In a recent post on his personal Instagram account @luhut.pandjaitan, he said: “I became more optimistic when I heard that he wanted Saudi Arabia to contribute to the development of Nusantara Capital City, and more importantly, Saudi Arabia will join the sovereign wealth fund of Indonesia (INA)," he said.
Source: Antara
PHILIPPINES
The Philippines’ Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), which manages the pension funds of the civil service, incurred a net loss of 18.71 billion pesos ($358 million) in 2021, but this was an 82% improvement from the previous year.
The investment portfolio grew 5.22% to P890.59 billion in 2021, with the growth propelled by foreign-currency investments in equities and infrastructure, according to the Department of Finance (DoF).
“The growth came primarily from the GSIS’s well-positioned foreign currency denominated investments, particularly in the equities market and the infrastructure sector,” GSIS President and General Manager Rolando L. Macasaet said.
Source: Business World Asia Asset Management
SINGAPORE
XVERSE, a China-based platform that develops 3D user-generated content, has raked in as much as $120 million in Series A and A+ round funding, which included participation from Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, according to a company statement on Friday (Mar 11).
The Series A+ round was led by tech bellwether Sequoia Capital China, and included the Singapore wealth fund and returning backers Gaorong Capital, 5Y Capital, and GL Ventures.
Set up in 2021, XVERSE promotes 3D-technology-driven consumption and lifestyle. The company leverages technologies that integrate with augmented reality, image fusion, high-performing computing, audio-video coding, and algorithm to develop 3D IT infrastructures and tools.
Source: X99news
HONG KONG
C Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of New World Development CEO Adrian Cheng, - along with Sweden's EQT Ventures - is co-leading the latest $70 million series B fundraise for Nothing, a London-based consumer tech startup founded by OnePlus Co-Founder Carl Pei.
Other investors in the latest round were GV, the venture capital arm of Google parent Alphabet, Future Shape, co-founded by iPod inventor Tony Faddell, Gaorong Capital and Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based mobile gaming and blockchain unicorn.
The new funding will go towards scaling Nothing’s product categories and establishing its London design hub, which is headed by Adam Bates, the former head of design at Dyson.
Source: C Ventures
KOREA
South Korea’s Nonghyup Life Insurance Co is looking to hire a local asset manager for a domestic fund mandate of unspecified value investing in stocks and bonds. Bidders must have a minimum three years of experience in fund management, with no less than 50 billion won (US$40.85 million) of segregated fixed income business and at least 30 billion won of segregated stock business.
The investments will include small and mid-cap stocks, dividend stocks, passive funds and bond funds, Nonghyup Life said in its request for proposal published on the website of the Korea Financial Investment Association on March 4.
The insurer has appointed Korean consulting firm KG Zeroin Co as investment service provider for the mandate. Applications were open until March 11.
Source: Nonghyup Life
The merger of KB Life Insurance Co., an insurer under KB Financial Group Inc. of South Korea, and Prudential Life Insurance Co. of Korea will be completed by January 2023, according to KB Financial Group.
KB Financial acquired Prudential Life in August 2020 for 2.3 trillion won ($2 billion) and has operated its insurance business independently.
In January 2021, KB Financial kicked off integrating Prudential Life’s computer system into the group system. The merger plan has been under review since last year and the group will make an official announcement soon, a senior official at KB Financial said.
The merged entity’s name will be likely either KB Star Life or KB Premium Life, the group said. The assets under management of Prudential Life and KB Life are 25 trillion won and 10 trillion won, respectively. The merged entity’s AUM will be around 35 trillion ($29 billion) won, the eighth-largest AUM in the Korean insurance industry, following Tongyang Life Insurance Co.’s 36 trillion won..
Source: The Korea Economic Daily
TAIWAN
Taiwan’s Bureau of Labor Funds (BLF) has opened a tender for a US$2.3 billion foreign investment mandate focusing on stocks related to climate change.
According to BLF, its Enhanced Global Climate Change Equity Mandate is the first by an Asian pension fund to track the 2015 Paris Agreement. Signatories to the accord pledged to keep global warming during the 21st century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and if possible, below 1.5 degrees Celsius, and to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
BLF will appoint five asset managers for five years each for the mandate it says in the request for proposal issued on March 4. The managers will invest $2 billion on behalf of the Labor Pension Fund, Taiwan’s largest defined-contributed pension scheme and the biggest of the eight pension and annuities funds supervised by the BLF.
The balance $300 million will be invested for the National Pension Insurance Fund, which covers old age and disability protection. Asset managers bidding for the tender must be established for at least three years, with at least $5 billion of assets under management globally. They must also have a minimum three-year track record managing climate related investments.
Applications are open until April 8.
Source: Asia Asset Management