Weekly Digest: GIC in green ammonia tie-up in India; Teachers' Pension gets new CIO
The following briefs are curated from press releases and third-party media sources.
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK
Singapore's GIC and Gentari, the clean energy division of Malaysia's Petronas, have inked an agreement to invest in a project that will develop five million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of green ammonia by 2030 – equivalent to about 1 MTPA of green hydrogen.
The project will be developed by AM Green, set up by the founders of Indian green renewable energy company Greenko.
The investments will create to a fully funded platform that will invest, in phases, in the Indian regions of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh.
The output of green hydrogen represents a fifth of India's production target under its National Green Hydrogen Mission.
Source: Gentari
Teachers’ Pension has named Jeon Bum-sik, a vice president at SK Securities, its new chief investment officer (CIO), effective November, according to investment banking industry sources on October 25.
Jeon will begin his new role at the large pension fund for Korea's private school teachers — managing 24.6 trillion won ($18.1 billion) in assets as of end-April — in November.
He replaces Lee Kyu-hong, who stepped down earlier in October after four years.
The incoming CIO is currently a vice president in charge of alternative investment at SK Securities, a medium-sized domestic securities company.
OTHER INVESTMENT NEWS
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan board’s acquisition of a minority stake in BusyBees Logistics Solutions.
The CCI granted approval for the transaction through the green channel route.
This route allows transactions to be approved without raising concerns about competition if there are no horizontal overlaps, vertical relationships, or complementary businesses between the acquirer and the target company.
BusyBees Logistics Solutions is an Indian express logistics service provider offering end-to-end supply chain solutions, including B2B Xpress, B2C Xpress, cross-border, and 3PL services.
The stake that the Ontario Teachers’ board intends to acquire and the proposed monetary size of the transaction has not been made public at this time.
Source: The Economic Times
CHINA
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the COP28 Presidency are collaborating to mobilise climate investment capital and accelerate clean energy investments to address critical resource gaps in Asia and beyond.
AIIB and the COP28 Presidency intend to co-develop innovative financial structures to scale up private and institutional capital mobilisation. Among them is the initiation of a new blended finance structure as part of shared efforts to drive capital into green initiatives.
Source: Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
China will expand the scope of insurance companies allowed to develop and offer the so-called exclusive commercial pension insurance products, in a bid to promote the development of commercial pensions, according to a circular by the National Financial Regulatory Administration.
Such insurance programs refer to private pension annuity products offered to improve income streams for the elderly, with pensioners getting pension payments when they reach the age of 60.
Composed of 33 items, the circular stipulated certain requirements for insurance companies to operate the business, including their solvency adequacy ratio and liability reserve coverage ratio.
Source: National Financial Regulatory Administration
INDIA
Spacetech startup Skyroot Aerospace, which successfully launched India’s and South Asia’s first privately built rocket into space in November 2022, raised $27.5 million in a pre-series C round led by Singaporean state investor Temasek.
Skyroot, which tested its suborbital space launch vehicle Vikram-S last year, is gearing up to launch its first orbital rocket — Vikram-1 — in early 2024 and plans multiple orbital launches over the next couple of years.
Skyroot, with this deal, has raised the largest funding by Indian spacetech startup at $95 million.
It raised $51 million in a Series-B round led by Singapore-based investment firm GIC in September 2022.
Source: Times of India
JAPAN
Nippon Life Insurance plans to increase holdings of Japanese government bonds (JGBs) and foreign corporate bonds, with interest rates converted to Japanese yen through currency swaps, in the remaining fiscal year through March, an investment planning executive said.
Although JGB yields are at their highest levels in a decade, now is not the time to buy aggressively since there is a chance for yields to go higher, Akira Tsuzuki told a news conference held to discuss the insurer's investment plans for the second half of this fiscal year.
Source: Reuters
KOREA
The National Pension Service (NPS) will increase its overseas investments to 60% of total assets by 2028 from the current share of about 50%, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.
The NPS will also prepare a portfolio-setting mechanism to expand alternative investments more easily, employ more personnel for such investments, and diversify its portfolio with mid-risk, mid-return investments.
NPS aims to improve its investment returns by one more percentage point to help sustain the fund, which is expected to be depleted by 2055 due to a fast-ageing population.
Source: Reuters
Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid Fund, the public pension fund operated by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business also known as KBIZ, has launched a request for proposals for a W300 billion ($222.3 million) mandate for overseas equities, comprising five investment strategies in total.
The strategies are global active, global fund of funds, North America, global absolute returns and emerging absolute returns.
Applications are open until November 2.
Source: Yellow Umbrella
The Public Officials Benefit Association (POBA) has made a $100 million capital commitment to 3650 REIT, a US commercial real estate lender.
3650, which originates and manages portfolio loans for institutional investors, said the public pension fund has committed to its bridge and event-driven (BED) fund.
The manager said POBA’s capital will be used to expand BED’s lending strategy in the US, which focuses on shorter-term loans for borrowers pursuing ground-up construction, acquisitions, repositionings, recapitalisations, or the restructuring of partnerships.
Source: 3650 REIT
Source: Korea Economic Daily
THE PHILIPPINES
The Maharlika Investment Fund, the Philippines’ first sovereign wealth fund, remains a top priority for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.
Seeking to assuage concerns that the fund may be put on hold, Marcos clarified in a briefing late last week that his government was making improvements to aspects such as its organiSational structure.
The president also said he would be seeking out participation from Middle East countries as he headed to the ASEAN-GCC Summit in Saudi Arabia
Source: Asean Briefing