The following briefs are curated from press releases and third-party media sources.
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK
Central Huijin Investment, the domestic investment arm of the China Investment Corporation (CIC), bought exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Monday, October 23, expanding its purchases beyond bank shares as authorities step up attempts to boost the stock market.
Central Huijin didn’t disclose the amount of ETFs it purchased but vowed to keep increasing holdings in the future. It was the second time this month that the state-run fund disclosed its open-market investment, following an Rmb477 million ($65 million) purchase of shares in the nation’s big four banks.
Huijin may have purchased up to Rmb10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in ETFs, the China Fund newspaper reported, citing unusual surges in transaction volume of several ETFs during the last trading hour on Monday.
Source: Central Huijin Investment; China Fund
Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) has admitted to overstating the amount of money it invests in socially responsible assets, adding pressure on the world’s third-largest fund to improve its record on sustainability.
The National Pension Service was called out by lawmaker Han Jeoung-ae, who said the fund assumes that all outsourced investments are socially responsible as long as the external asset managers adopt stewardship codes and guidelines, regardless of whether the investments are actually in socially responsible companies.
NPS chairman Kim Tae-hyun acknowledged on October 20 that Han was right, and that the fund would address the miscalculation of these investments, which almost tripled to W384.1 trillion ($284 billion) last year from 2021.
Source: Bloomberg
Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala becomes a new investor of CBC Healthcare Infrastructure Platform’s life science real assets venture in China, committing $300 million to the venture and joining existing investors, APG Asset Management and CBC Group.
Singapore-headquartered CBC Group announced the second close of the CLSRA Venture I on October 21, securing a total commitment of $875 million.
Since the initial close in November 2021, the China-focused CLSRA Venture I has committed and deployed $450 million — or 90% of the capital secured during the first close — across four real estate projects in China in the cities of Shanghai, Beijing, and Suzhou.
Source: CBC Group; PERE
OTHER INVESTMENT NEWS
BANGLADESH
At a press conference for the launch of a new universal pension fund, National Pension Authority chairman Kabirul Ezdani Khan informed that approximately 15,000 people have registered for the pension scheme by paying subscriptions, resulting in a total deposit of Tk12.54 crore ($1.14 million) as of October 22.
Out of this amount, Tk11.31 crore has been invested in 10-year treasury bonds, which will yield an interest rate of 10.50%.
In a speech, finance minister Mustafa Kamal said the subscriptions of all the participants in the pension scheme will be deposited as a universal pension fund. National Pension Authority will invest the money in safer and less risky assets, he added
Source: The Business Post
SINGAPORE
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Tuesday, October 24 launched a public consultation on its proposal to streamline the regulatory framework for fund managers.
The existing registered fund management companies (RFMCs) regime will be repealed, and existing RFMCs that are in operation will be approved as licensed fund management companies (LFMCs) upon application.
“RFMCs are subject to lighter requirements in terms of the frequency and granularity of regulatory reporting, given the limits placed on their assets under management and number of customers,” MAS said.
Source: Monetary Authority of Singapore
Australia’s Mirvac Group is going to acquire land lease operator Serenitas from Singapore’s GIC for A$1.01 billion ($642.76 million) along with Pacific Equity Partners Secure Assets (PEP) and Tasman Capital Partners.
Serenitas will operate as a joint venture following the acquisition, with Mirvac and PEP holding 47.5% stakes each, while Tasman Capital Partners will own the remaining stake.
Source: Mirvac Group
Solar cell technology startup Cosmos Innovation has raised $16.8 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Xora Innovation, an early-stage, deep-tech investment platform of Temasek.
Through its seed and Series A rounds, Cosmos Innovation has raised a total of $19.7 million. The funds will go towards driving the development process of Cosmos Innovation’s perovskite silicon tandem (PST) solar cell technology, using its artificial intelligence (AI) platform.
Other investors joining the round include Innovation Endeavors, which led the seed round;…
Read More: Weekly Digest: China state fund buys ETFs; Korea NPS admits overstating ESG