Weekly investors roundup: Li Ka-shing's Horizons Ventures to open Singapore family office; AustralianSuper plans rise in PE allocation
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK:
Horizons Ventures, the private investment firm of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, is opening a family office in Singapore to find new deals and support portfolio companies trying to expand in Asia.
The new office will have about 10 staff including Jacky Li, a senior investment manager and Jeffrey Ho, a portfolio curator. The move comes a year after the firm said it had plans to increase deals in the region.
Horizons said its decision to set up shop in Singapore – the first outside of Hong Kong - is not influenced by the strict national security laws and Covid-related travel restrictions in the city-state but driven by Singapore’s advantages as a regional hub for investors and expansion.
Source: Bloomberg
AustralianSuper is planning to further invest A$13 billion ($9 billion) in private equity over the next two years, mostly in the US as it banks on private investments to boost returns.
A large portion of the amount (A$9.5 billion) will be focused on healthcare, technology, industrials, consumer and financial sectors. The investment will bring the super fund’s PE allocation from 5% to 7% by 2024.
Source: Australian Financial Review
Ivanhoe Cambridge, Bain Capital and Lodha Group have announced a partnership to invest $1 billion for the development of a green digital infrastructure platform in India.
Ivanhoe Cambridge is the $53.4 billion real estate arm of Canadian pension fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec. Lodha is a Mumbai-based real estate developer and Bain Capital is an alternatives investment firm based in Boston.
The partners will each have a one-third equity interest in the property ownership, while Lodha will be leading the development, operations and management of the assets.
Source: Ivanhoe Cambridge
MORE INVESTMENT NEWS
AUSTRALIA
Ethical superannuation fund Future Super has appointed Ed Tomlinson as chief investment officer from Aon as the fund acquired Aon’s superannuation business.
Tomlinson was head of investments for the Pacific region at the firm and replaces Kirstin Hunter, a co-founder of the A$7 billion Future Super, who served as CIO until her departure early last year.
The superannuation fund has also hired Sharon Davis as executive director of investments from MLC Asset Management, where she was general manager of strategic initiatives, a role she has held for three years.
Source: Financial Standard
CHINA
The Chinese fund management company subsidiaries of BlackRock, KKR and Italy's Azimut Group have garnered the licenses required to raise money from qualified investors on the mainland for investment overseas.
A Shanghai Municipal Office of Finance Service news release said BlackRock and An Zhong (AZ) Investment Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Milan-based Azimut, are the latest global managers to obtain licenses under the qualified domestic limited partnership cross-border investment program launched in Shanghai in 2013.
Source: Pensions&Investments
A Dutch investment firm with $118 billion under management has started blacklisting a number of assets from China, after developing a new screening tool to catch environmental, social and governance risks.
Van Lanschot Kempen NV, a 400-year-old firm, has created a test that includes a national corruption score, and will start excluding sovereign bonds and state-backed entities from places that don’t pass, said Nikesh Patel, senior executive at the wealth manager. The new strategy will initially apply to pension fund clients, though the firm is planning to discuss it with other client groups.
Source: Bloomberg
KOREA
Korea Post has announced its seventh tender for the year and is now seeking up to two asset managers for a $156.5 million (200 billion won) domestic investment mandate.
The mandate will be structured as a blind fund focusing on non-performing loans which included collateralised bonds and real estate-related debt.
In its request for proposal on May 10, Korea Post said the fund has an eight-year investment period, which can be extended for two more years, and the funding may also be increased to $195 million (250 billion won). The asset managers will be hired for a period of four years.
The government postal agency did not specify the minimum criteria for bidders. The application period will close on May 24, with due diligence and manager selection scheduled by the end of July.
Source: Asia Asset Management
INDIA
Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) plans to sell up to $200 million of its stake in the India Highway Concession Trust, its infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) in the country.
The Canadian pension fund has reportedly hired Morgan Stanley to bring in a new investor in order to fulfil the mandatory requirement for InvITs in India. According to the guidelines of capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the minimum threshold of equity dilution in an unlisted InvIT is 25%.
Currently 5 investors together hold about 25% of India Highway Concessions which until recently was exactly in line with Sebi’s guideline of minimum stake dilution. However, CDPQ’s InvIT recently won the Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) 7 bundle from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) last month, which increased its valuation.
Source: The Economic Times
INTERNATIONAL
The Seattle City Employees' Retirement System approved new alternatives commitments totaling up to $85 million at a board meeting on May 12.
Among the approved commitments, the $4.1 billion pension fund will commit up to $20 million to AG Asia Realty Fund V, a value-added real estate fund managed by Angelo Gordon & Co. The pension fund previously committed up to $15 million to AG Asia Realty Fund IV in 2018.
Other commitments approved at the meeting include up to $40 million to Arcmont Direct Lending Fund IV, a direct lending fund managed by Arcmont Asset Management and up to $25 million to Brookfield Infrastructure Fund V, an infrastructure fund managed by Brookfield Asset Management.
Source: Pensions&Investments
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has entered into a joint venture with Corio, a green investment group portfolio company, to fund the development of an initial portfolio of up to 9 GW offshore wind projects.
Ontario Teachers’, which has $186 billion (C$241.6 billion) in assets, will invest up to $1 billion in development capital to the portfolio which will consist of 14 fixed bottom and floating projects in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Ireland and the UK, all of which are currently under development by Corio.
Ontario Teachers’ will acquire up to half of Corio’s stake in these projects, supporting development, construction and operation. The transaction is expected to reach completion in Q3 2022.
Corio and Ontario Teachers’ said they would also explore opportunities to expand the partnership through the creation or acquisition of new projects.
Source: Ontario Teachers’
MALAYSIA
Malaysia’s Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) is looking to more than double its bond investments to 20% of total assets as it aims to raise its annual dividend payout to 5% for its members, said its chief executive Nazim Rahman.
The fund also aims to increase its exposure to foreign equities by the end of 2022 through external fund managers, he said at a virtual event on May 12.
The LTAT also known as Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera was established in 1972 as a statutory body that provides retirement savings and benefits for officers and members of the Malaysian Armed Forces. As of Dec 31, 2021, it has about RM9.7 billion ($2.21 billion) in assets under management.
Source: The Edge
SINGAPORE
Chainanalysis, a blockchain data platform, has raised $170 million in a Series F funding round led by Singapore’s GIC, which has doubled the platform’s valuation to $8.6 billion from $4.2 billion, a company statement said on Friday. (May 13)
Other participants include past investors Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, as well as US-based Accel and Dragoneer, which increased their investment in the company. New investors include Bank of New York Mellon and Emergence Capital.
Chainalysis said it will use the funds to continue to invest in product innovation and scale its global operations to meet customer demand.
Source: Business Times
India’s Dr Agarwal’s Health Care has raised Rs 1050 crore (around $136 million) from existing shareholder Singapore’s state investment firm Temasek Holdings and new investor TPG Growth in the country’s largest private equity deal in the eye care space.
The deal comprises primary infusion of funds and secondary transaction that involves the exit of its existing investor ADV Partners, said Dr Agarwal's in a statement.
Source: VCCircle