Weekly Digest: Dubai prince reaffirms HK family office; GIC takes control of insurance broker
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK
A Dubai prince who abruptly postponed an inauguration ceremony of his $500 million family office in Hong Kong has issued a third statement in four days to reiterate his commitment to proceed with the plan.
It reiterated the opening ceremony for the prince’s family office had been postponed until the end of May, when Maktoum would make a return visit to the city.
“It has been confirmed that the operation of the sheikh’s family office in Hong Kong will proceed as planned,” said Eleanor Jane Mak, the office’s vice-chairman and CEO.
Source: South China Morning Post
GIC has completed its acquisition of private equity firm Cinven’s shares in Miller, an insurance and reinsurance broker. The transaction makes GIC Miller’s majority shareholder.
GIC and Cinven first invested in Miller in 2021. Since then, Miller has expanded through organic growth and international mergers and acquisitions and now has over 900 colleagues across offices in the UK, Europe, Bermuda and Asia.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Source: Miller
OTHER INVESTMENT NEWS
AUSTRALIA
Singapore-based diversified property trust Keppel REIT, a subsidiary of global asset manager Keppel Corporation of which Singapore's Temasek owns 21%, has announced the acquisition of a 50% stake in the iconic 255 George Street Grade A office building in Sydney's CBD for A$363.8 million ($236.2 million).
The remaining 50% interest in the property will continue to be held by the seller Mirvac Funds Management.
Keppel REIT has a portfolio value of over $9 billion, comprising properties in Singapore, Australia, Korea, and Japan.
Source: Keppel Corporation
CHINA
The Superannuation Arrangements of the University of London (SAUL) applied for Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) in China on March 25, according to disclosure of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).
QFII allows foreign investors to trade yuan-denominated A shares in the onshore market.
SAUL is a defined benefit pension scheme for employees in higher education in London. It managed £3.1 billion ($3.9 billion) in assets as of March 31, 2023.
Source: China Securities Regulatory Commission
JAPAN
The Pension Fund Association for Local Government Officials, know by its Japanese name Chikyoren, has hired Asset Management One and Tokio Marine Asset Management as well as Fidelity Investments for an overseas real estate mandate.
Japanese Asset Management One and Tokio Marine AM will management the investment through separately managed accounts. Chikyoren has CBRE Investment Management as sub-manager for Asset Management One’s account.
The value of the mandate was not disclosed.
Source: Chikyoren
KOREA
The Military Mutual Aid Association (MMAA), which managed 10.4 trillion won ($7.7 billion) in assets as of the end of 2023, said on April it is hiring a new chief investment officer (CIO) for the financial investment division, who represents the retirement fund’s overall investment strategy.
The CIO should have at least 15 years of experience in one or more of the areas such as financial investment, research, investment strategy and risk management, as well as at least two years of experience as an executive in financial investment. The new chief’s term of office is three years, with a possibility of a consecutive one-year term.
The new CIO will be responsible for investment strategies for mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt. The chief will take office in May, subject to approval by the fund’s board and Korea’s defence minister. Lee Sang-hee, the current CIO for financial investment who took office in May 2021, will be eligible to serve another three-year term if elected.
Source: MMAA
Korea Post has chosen Shinhan Asset Management and Korea Investment Management for socially responsible domestic fixed income mandate.
The two asset managers have been chosen for a period of one year.
Source: Korea Post
SINGAPORE
Singapore's financial regulator is pushing family office applicants to respond promptly to scrutiny, or risk having their efforts to obtain tax breaks rendered fruitless, as the Southeast Asian financial centre tightens procedures around foreign wealth inflows in the wake of a massive money laundering bust.
According to three industry sources with knowledge of the matter, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will give a maximum of one month for applicants to reply to the regulator when it asks for additional information. In the past, no hard deadline was given. Going forward, applications are set to be disregarded if the deadline is not met.
Source: Nikkei Asia
Sterlite Power, an Indian private power transmission developer and an affiliate of GIC, signed definitive agreements to set-up a new joint venture (JV) platform to develop and operate power transmission projects in India.
Sterlite Power will own the majority stake of 51% and GIC will own the remaining 49% stake.
The JV platform will target the new opportunities emerging from the need for over $13 billion of investments announced by the Government of India.
Source: GIC
The above briefs are curated from press releases and third-party media sources.