Weekly investors roundup: Global asset owners want Indian infrastructure; Alibaba founder sells stocks
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK
India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund has invested in 16 entities covering ports and logistics, renewable energy, digital infrastructure, healthcare and manufacturing among others, Union Minister of State for Finance Dr Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad said.
The fund is set up as a collaborative investment platform between the Indian government, global investors, multilateral development banks and domestic financial institutions. Global investors include Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, AustralianSuper, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, PSP Investments, Temasek, US International Development Finance Corporation, Karad said.
Source: Press Information Bureau of India
Joe Tsai has indicated he plans to sell a major chunk of his Alibaba Group Holding stake through Morgan Stanley as he increasingly shifts his fortune away from the e-commerce giant.
A holding company for Alibaba’s co-founder filed this month to sell 3 million of the Chinese firm’s American depositary receipts — roughly 8% of Tsai’s holding — through the New York-based bank, according to data from The Washington Service, which said the document indicated a trading plan. The stake is worth about $260 million, based on Thursday’s closing price.
Morgan Stanley declined to comment, while representatives for Alibaba and Tsai didn’t immediately reply to Bloomberg inquiries.
Tsai has been ramping up his investments outside of Alibaba through his Hong Kong-based family office, Blue Pool Capital, which oversees holdings in US stocks, venture capital and real estate.
Source: Bloomberg
The world’s biggest money managers are set to unload up to $100 billion of stocks in the final few weeks of the year.
Bonds are the likely beneficiaries of sales by sovereign wealth, pension and balanced mutual funds looking to replenish their fixed-income holdings, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. and StoneX Financial Inc.
Source: Bloomberg
OTHER INVESTMENT NEWS
AUSTRALIA
Mine Super and TWUSUPER have signed a preliminary non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to merge.
If undertaken, a merged entity would create a combined fund managing nearly $20 billion for over 150,000 members.
There will be no changes changes to any aspect of member funds, investments or insurance as a result of the funds singing this MoU, the media report said.
Source: Financial Standard
CHINA
Singapore and China financial regulators agreed to deepen cooperation in green finance and supervisory technology at a bilateral meeting early this month.
Officials from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) discussed regulatory and supervisory developments in the banking and insurance sector at the bilateral roundtable on December 2.
They “welcomed further exchanges to advance supervisory cooperation” and “have also agreed to deepen cooperation in topical areas such as green finance and supervisory technology”, according to their brief joint statement released recently.
Source: Asia Asset Management
Beijing’s retreat from its zero-Covid policy is causing chaos in the country’s Rmb29 trillion ($4.1 trillion) market for wealth management products, with some fund managers having to freeze withdrawals or sell down their holdings as they struggle to cope with a rush of redemptions by investors.
Half of the country’s 31,000 outstanding fixed-income WMPs have reported a decline in value since the government first signalled that it would relax its strict approach to Covid-19 on November 11, according to public records.
Wind, a financial data provider, reported that 1,837 fixed-income WMPs, a major source of funding for China’s bond market, were trading below par value as of December 12, compared with 256 at the beginning of November.
Source: Financial Times
HONG KONG
The government on December 13 announced the launch of a three-year pilot green and sustainable finance capacity-building scheme to encourage eligible practitioners to participate in training related to green and sustainable finance.
This is part of the 2022-23 budget to earmark HK$200 million ($25,7 million) to build up the local green and sustainable finance talent pool and support relevant development.
The pilot scheme is open for application by Hong Kong residents who are market practitioners or graduates of green and sustainable finance. After completing eligible programmes, applicants can apply for a subsidy of up to 100% of the relevant fees, subject to a ceiling of HK$10,000.
Source: HKSAR Government
INDIA
India’s biggest pension fund, $182 billion in assets, has resumed investing in rupee bonds issued by top-rated private firms as it seeks new avenues to deploy cash, a top official said.
“Whenever there is a potential for higher returns coupled with safety” in the highest-rated corporate bonds the fund is investing, Prabhakar Banasure, a central board trustee at the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization, told Bloomberg.
Source: Bloomberg
An infrastructure platform managed by Edelweiss Alternatives has acquired 100% equity in Larsen & Toubro Infrastructure Development Projects (L&T IDPL) for an enterprise value of about ₹6,0000 million ($725.8 million).
L&T IDPL is the infrastructure portfolio owned by L&T and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
Source: The Economic Times
KOREA
The National Pension Service (NPS) will hedge foreign exchange risks for up to 10% of its overseas investment compared with zero up to now for a limited period, the welfare ministry said on December 16, a move expected to ease dollar demand on the onshore FX market.
The fund has grown and its increasing purchases of dollars for investment abroad have been blamed for exacerbating the dollar/won's already rising trend in recent months. South Korea's currency hit its weakest level in 13 years in October.
The fund will also be allowed to hold foreign stocks up to 3 percentage points above or below its target ratio in the event of extreme price fluctuations, the ministry added. NPS held 27.6% of total assets in foreign stocks as of end-September, compared with a year-end target of 27.8%.
Source: Reuters