Weekly Digest: Tahoe Life gets IA-appointed managers; KIC shortlists three for next CEO
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK
The Insurance Authority (IA) on July 26 appointed managers from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and the Deloitte Advisory (Hong Kong) to take full control of the affairs and property of Tahoe Life Insurance Company, the first time that the authority took over a distressed local life insurer.
The company failed to submit audited financial statements in 2022 and 2023 and to bring in new strategic investors.
“Given that its majority shareholders are embroiled in multiple debt proceedings, appointment of the Managers is necessary to ascertain the latest financial and solvency position, preserve capital resources and identify optimal recovery solutions in the best interest of policy holders,” an IA spokesperson said.
Tahoe Life operated under the parent company, mainland Chinese property developer Tahoe Group. It has about 90,000 life policies worth HK$18 billion ($2.3 billion) as of March.
Source: Insurance Authority
Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) has shortlisted three candidates for the next chief executive officer, who will be officially appointed in September.
KIC is conducting the final round of interviews to select a successor to the current CEO Jin Seoungho, according to banking industry sources.
Among the three candidates are Park Il Young, the World Bank Group executive director for Asia and the Pacific constituency, and Yang Seok Jun, former director general for reserves management at the Bank of Korea.
Source: Korea Economic Daily
OTHER INVESTMENT NEWS
AUSTRALIA
Australian Ethical reported a 6.8% return on its MySuper Balanced investment option for the financial year ended 30 June, consistent with its 10-year return.
Meanwhile, its High Growth investment option delivered a 9.2%, and its flagship fund, the Australian Shares strategy, returned 9.7%.
According to Australian Ethical Chief Investment Officer Ludovic Theau, the fund's long-term performance proves that “you don’t have to sacrifice risk nor returns to invest ethically”.
Source: Super Review
CHINA
A growing number of retirement mutual funds in China have closed after failing to attract enough investors, in a blow to a new pension scheme aimed at bridging a funding gap for an aging population.
Seven retirement-target funds including those run by the local joint ventures of Prudential and Invesco have shut this year for not reaching a required asset threshold, according to filings.
The liquidations this year alone accounted for almost half of all closures since the trial started six years ago.
Source: Bloomberg
KOREA
Korea Post picked local investment firms KB Asset Management and Woori Asset Management for a 300 billion won ($217 million) domestic priority acquisition finance fund mandate.
Korea Post put the mandate up for tender on May 31. The investment is structured as a blind fund with 80% allocated to domestic acquisition financing for mergers and acquisitions.
Source: Asia Asset Management
SINGAPORE
GIC will seek to buy stakes in multinational companies’ China units if they exit the country amid slowing growth and rising geopolitical tensions.
The Singaporean state-owned investor, which has estimated assets of more than $700 billion, outlined the strategy as one way it would continue to invest in China.
Around 26% of GIC’s investment portfolio was in Asia as of the end of March, compared with 39% in the US alone, according to the fund’s annual report released recently.
Its holdings in Japan — whose equity market has soared — continued their steady decline, and now make up just 4% of the firm’s assets.
Source: Bloomberg; GIC; Financial Times
EvolutionX Debt Capital, a joint venture between Temasek Holdings and DBS Bank, is shifting its investment focus to India from China, aiming to capture a bigger share of the South Asian nation’s expanding private credit market.
The Singapore-based debt financing platform plans to allocate up to 70% of its $500 million private credit fund to India, Rahul Shah, a partner at the company said in an interview.
The firm is targeting high double-digit returns with an investment horizon of three to four years, he said
Source: Bloomberg
THE PHILIPPINES
The Department of Finance (DoF) said it may enter into a joint venture with Maharlika Investment Corp. or the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to effect the sale of government mining assets.
“We are exploring a JV — possibly with GSIS or Maharlika. So, they will be in charge of finding a partner… if there’s an upside (which we think there is), the government still benefits,” Finance Undersecretary Catherine L. Fong said.
The Privatization and Management Office, an arm of the DoF, is in charge of disposing of government assets and idle property to the private sector.
Source: BusinessWorld
The above briefs were curated from company news releases and third-party sources.