Weekly investors roundup: GIC commits to green hydrogen; Taiwan pension funds start year with losses
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK:
GIC has taken part in a $650 million equity syndication program to finance ACES Delta, the largest green hydrogen platform in the world.
Other investors in the project - a joint venture between US-based Haddington Ventures and Mitsubishi Power Americas - include AIMCO, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, and Manulife.
The hydrogen hub is expected to begin construction in June 2022 and contribute to the decarbonisation efforts in the US when operations begin in 2025.
Source: GIC Haddington
Taiwan pension funds overseen by the Bureau of Labor Funds (BLF) reported a NT$215 billion ($7.31 billion) investment loss in the first four months of the year as markets are roiled by global supply chain disruptions which are worsening inflationary pressures, and central banks hike interest rates to rein in soaring prices.
The eight BLF pension and annuity funds swung to an average investment loss of 3.92% in January through April from a 6.05% gain in the same period of 2021, when they posted an investment gain of NT$297.3 billion.
The BLF pointed to the Russia-Ukraine war and China’s zero-Covid policy to battle the Omicron variant of the coronavirus as key factors for the supply chain issues, which are causing widespread shortages of goods and raw materials and driving up energy, food and other costs.
Source: Asia Asset Management
AIA Singapore has teamed up with Franklin Templeton to launch a shariah global diversified fund for Muslim investors in the city-state as well as non-Muslim investors who are interested in responsible investing, according to a statement by the insurer on June 7.
Shariah-compliant funds do not invest in industries or businesses whose underlying activities are involved in any non-halal items such as gambling, alcohol, tobacco, pork and adult entertainment among others. These funds also do not invest in interest-bearing instruments.
The fund, which will be made available through five investment-linked plans (ILP), is a Singapore-denominated diversified portfolio of global Shariah-compliant equities and Sukuk backed by fund management house Franklin Templeton, which currently manages more than $3.3 billion in Shariah-compliant strategies globally.
Source: AIA
MORE INVESTMENT NEWS:
AUSTRALIA
Vision Super and Active Super have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore a potential merger. The combined fund would manage A$26 billion ($18 billion) in funds under management.
The fund aims to analyse operating and investment benefits as well as possible hurdles to the merger as its next steps.
Vision Super and Active Super cater to the local government sector in Victoria and New South Wales respectively. The MoU will seek to determine if the merger will result in positive financial benefits to their members.
Source: VisionSuper
IFM Investors and its associates have acquired a 14.96% interest in toll road owner Atlas Arteria (ALX), making it a substantial shareholder in the company, through the IFM Global Infrastructure Fund.
IFM GIF intends to request from ALX access to certain limited company information, before deciding whether to submit a non-binding indicative proposal to ALX to acquire all the ALX securities it does not already own.
The fund said in a statement that it was attracted to the firm’s high-quality assets across France, Germany and the United States.
Source: IFM Investors
CHINA
Family offices are cautious about China’s growth and remain wary of committing more investments to the country as a survey from UBS showed a heightened reluctance from such clients to increase their allocations in the mainland.
Only 39% of global family offices expect to raise their asset allocations into China over the next five years, compared with 61% in 2021, according to UBS’ Global Family Office Report 2022 released on June 9. Family offices manage investment and succession planning for wealthy families or individuals.
“It appears that the country’s regulatory measures and signs of stress in the real estate sector have blunted last year’s high levels of enthusiasm,” UBS said in the report, which surveyed 221 single family offices with a total net worth of $493 billion between January 19 and February 20 this year.
Source: South China Morning Post
INDIA
Canadian private equity major Brookfield and its associates signed definitive agreements with IndInfravit Trust on June 10, to fully sell five of its operational road projects for a consideration of $1.2 billion.
The sellers from Brookfield side are BIF India Holdings and Kinetic Holdings, which are companies owned by funds managed by Brookfield Asset Management Inc.
The assets have been operational, on average, for around nine years, and have an average residual concession period of 20 years.
IndInfravit's unitholders include Allianz Insurance companies represented by Allianz Capital Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Omers Infrastructure.
Source: CPP Investments
INDONESIA
The Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education is expected to reach Rp120 trillion ($8.17 billion) by 2022, including an Rp20 trillion allocation by the government for this year, according to the Indonesian Finance Ministry’s director-general of separated state wealth Meirijal Nur.
Between 2010 and 2021, Rp99.1 trillion has been disbursed by the fund, with the bulk going to education endowments and the rest to grants for research, universities and cultural affairs.
Source: Antara
The Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) is in talks with online travel unicorn Traveloka for a funding round of more than $200 million, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Indonesian sovereign wealth fund is joined by BlackRock and other investors who have shown interest in the fundraiser but no decision has been reached yet, said the sources.
Source: DealStreetAsia
INTERNATIONAL
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and DP World, a global infrastructure-led supply chain solutions provider announced an investment of $5 billion in three of DP World’s flagship UAE assets on June 6.
Global investment group CDPQ will invest $2.5 billion in the Jebel Ali Port, the Jebel Ali Free Zone and the National Industries Park through a new joint venture in which it will hold a stake of approximately 22%, with the remainder of the transaction being financed by debt. Other long-term investors will have the opportunity to acquire an additional stake of up to $3 billion.
The three assets will remain fully consolidated businesses within the DP World Group and day-to-day operations, customers, service providers and employees will not be affected.
Source: CDPQ
KOREA
Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid Fund, Korea Scientists & Engineers Mutual Aid Association and Military Mutual Aid Association have reportedly committed $70 million, $60 million and $30 million, respectively, to a $3.5 billion private credit fund by US private debt manager Antares Capital.
Other Korean institutions, including insurers, are also considering capital commitments this month, bringing the total Korean commitment up to $300 million, according to investment banking sources on Friday (June 10).
Chicago-based Antares Capital specializes in loans to middle-market, private equity-backed companies and managed more than $50 billion in assets as of end-2021. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired the private credit manager from GE Capital for $12 billion in 2015.
Source: The Korea Economic Daily
MALAYSIA
Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional launched its sustainability framework on June 10, with a target to achieve carbon-neutral operations by 2023, according to its managing director Amirul Feisal.
He said that another environmental sustainability target of the wealth fund is to aim for net-zero emissions by 2050. Khazanah will also aim to have women comprising 30% of the boards and senior leadership positions at the wealth fund and its key portfolio companies.
Source: The Edge
NEW ZEALAND
NZ Super has partnered with the Eke Panuku Development Auckland to accelerate and improve the regeneration of town centres in Tāmaki Makaurau.
“We see a commercial opportunity in large-scale (more than $100 million), climate-friendly property investments and Eke Panuku is an ideal partner for us,” NZ Super Fund CEO Matt Whineray said. “The broader property development market should gain additional confidence and delivery assurance from the funding, commercial rigor and governance focus we add to the partnership.”
Source: NZ Super
PHILIPPINES
A tycoon-backed firm plans to build a solar farm in the Philippines that will supply 850 megawatts of power to generate enough electricity to displace 1.4 million tons of coal annually.
Prime Infrastructure Holdings, which is owned by billionaire Enrique Razon, said in a statement that the project will include energy storage to ensure that solar power generated in the day will be preserved for the night.
However, the proposal did not state where the project will be developed and how much it will cost.
Source: Bloomberg
SINGAPORE
Temasek Holdings has teamed up with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), and Singapore Airlines (SIA) to launch the sale of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) credits in July 2022 as part of a pilot to promote the use of SAF in Singapore.
A total of 1,000 SAF credits – generated from 1,000 tonnes of neat SAF blended, delivered, and uplifted from Singapore’s Changi Airport - will be available for sale. The total credits are expected to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 2,500 tonnes as every credit purchased can potentially reduce 2.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
Source: Temasek Holdings
Singapore-based Envision Digital, a provider of artificial intelligence and internet technologies software, has raised $210 million, led by venture capital firm Sequoia China and backed by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC.
Envision Digital - part of Chinese renewable firm Envision Group - said the Series A funding will enable it to expand its operations and fund additional research and development activities in a statement on June 7.
Singapore's Climate Impact X (CIX) and Puro.earth of Finland have formed a partnership that aims to increase the availability of nature- and technology-based carbon removal credits.
The move announced on June 6 aims to give buyers a wider choice of offsets to cut their emissions and to spur investment in projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere and lock it away.
CIX - jointly established last year by Temasek, DBS Bank, Singapore Exchange, and Standard Chartered - is a marketplace and exchange for nature-based carbon credits, while Puro.earth is a marketplace and registry for carbon removal credits focused on emerging carbon removal technologies.
Source: The Straits Times
The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), a coalition of some of the world's leading financial institutions, has launched an Asia-Pacific network and office in Singapore last Wednesday (June 8).
The move announced during Ecosperity Week 2022 organised by Temasek is aimed at accelerating the global transition to net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2050. Its members are expected to shift their own business practices towards net-zero emissions and ensure their investments do the same.
Source: The Straits Times
This article has been edited to clarify that Vision Super serves local government workers in Victoria.