AUSTRALIA

The partnership formed by several institutional investors in Australia including QIC, Future Fund, Aware Super, Hostplus and LGIASuper, finalized the acquisition of the Australian business of Tilt Renewables.

Powering Australian Renewables (PowAR), reached a binding agreement in March to acquire the Australian business of Tilt Renewables at NZ $ 7.80 per share. Mercury NZ had also signed an agreement to acquire the New Zealand company.

PowAR is an A $ 2 billion partnership between QIC Global Infrastructure Fund and its co-investors, which include Aware Super, Hostplus, TelstraSuper, MLC and LGIASuper, the Future Fund and AGL Energy Limited.

Source: QIC

Westpac has agreed to sell its Australian life insurance business to TAL Dai-ichi Life Australia for AU $ 900 million.

The sale price is 0.96 times its intrinsic value for FY20, and a total book loss of AU $ 1.3 billion is expected, of which AU $ 300 million will be realized in the bank’s results for the year 21 and the remainder at the close of the sale.

Subject to regulatory approval, the sale is expected to close by the second half of 2022.

The deal is the latest in a series of Australian lenders that have sold their insurance businesses, including Macquarie Group, Suncorp Group and AMP Limited, in the past five years.

Source: Westpac, Reuters

Industry super fund CareSuper posted a 17.49% return on its default balanced option for the year ended in June.

The performance was the best in its 35-year history, the fund said in a statement, and can be attributed to equity markets, fueled by monetary and fiscal stimulus from central banks and governments around the world.

The AU $ 16 billion fund added that private equity, credit, infrastructure and direct real estate investments also generated high returns, while returns on fixed interest and cash were much lower due to low rates. of interest.

Direct real estate in the fund’s portfolio returned 7.5% for the year, compared to 1.1% and 0.16% respectively for fixed interest and cash. Figures for private equity, credit and infrastructure were not available.

Source: CareSuper

CHINA

China Investment Corporation (CIC) held its 2021 biannual conference on August 5, where it said it has improved internal management, explored new modalities for outbound investments, deepened mandated management of financial capital owned by the State and strengthened core competitiveness. of Central Huijin’s holdings.

In the second half of 2021, the CIC will remain strategically persistent and give more impetus to its reform and development through both coherence and creativity.

Source: CIC

China has issued sweeping new regulations for credit rating companies, a key step towards better oversight of the scandal-ridden industry.

The rules, jointly issued by five central government bodies, including the central bank and the chief economic planner, set out requirements for rating companies’ business operations, corporate governance and disclosure, as well as sanctions. in the event of professional misconduct in the sector.

The rules require companies to assess their creditworthiness against the probability of default and reduce the proportion of well-rated bond issuers to a “reasonable range,” allowing investors to better differentiate bonds. The rules also require rating agencies to do more to avoid conflicts of interest, urging them to redouble their efforts to isolate credit rating services from other operations.

Source: Caixin Global

Fidelity International has obtained Chinese regulatory approval to set up a wholly-owned mutual fund unit in Shanghai, giving it a foothold in the country’s $ 3.5 trillion retail fund market.

The long-awaited approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) came a year after Fidelity applied to start the company.

It also happened after rival BlackRock became the first global asset manager licensed to start a wholly-owned mutual fund business in China in early June.

Source: Reuters

JP Morgan has received regulatory approval to take full control of a brokerage house in China, making it the first foreign bank to do so as China further liberalizes its $ 50 trillion financial services industry .

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved the registration of JP Morgan International Finance taking full ownership of its Shanghai-headquartered securities firm, according to an Aug. 6 statement.

China represented “one of the greatest opportunities in the world,” said Jamie Dimon, president and CEO of JP Morgan.

Source: China Securities Regulatory Commission

BNP Paribas Securities Services has been approved to provide custody services for the Chinese Qualified Foreign Investor (QFI) program, which allows international investments in Chinese stocks and bonds.

The custodian bank can now “directly support foreign institutional investors in all programs allowing access to Chinese stock and bond markets, in addition to providing a full range of foreign exchange services,” she said in a statement. released on August 4.

China last year removed investment quotas for several cross-border programs, including QFI, to encourage foreign investment in onshore markets.

Source: BNP Paribas Securities Services

JAPAN

Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) assets reached 191.6 trillion yen ($ 1.74 trillion), with a return of 2.68% in the first quarter of April to June, driven by assets in the foreigner, the pension fund announced on Friday.

Despite losing 0.25% in domestic stocks in the first quarter, the world’s largest pension fund outperformed benchmarks across all asset classes. In particular, it gained 8.62% in foreign stocks and 1.87% in foreign bonds.

Source: GPIF

The Association of Local Civil Servants’ Pension Funds, known locally as Chikyoren, has invested an unspecified amount in a national logistics fund managed by GLP Japan.

It has chosen Mizuho Trust & Banking as its custodian and administration service provider, the pension fund announced on July 30. GLP is a Singapore-based real estate and infrastructure investment firm.

Source: Chikyoren

KOREA

The Public Officials Benefit Association (POBA) has committed € 80 million ($ 95 million) to the AXA Investment Managers fund, which recently raised € 1.9 billion to invest primarily in life science offices and research facilities in Europe and Asia, according to AXA.

The fund, managed by AXA IM Alts, the alternatives business unit of the French asset manager, made its first investment through Kadans Life Science Partner, which develops and operates European science parks and laboratory offices.

Source: Korea Economic Daily

MALAYSIA

The US Department of Justice has announced that it has repatriated an additional $ 452 million to Malaysia as part of the 1Malaysia Development (1MDB) scandal. This brings the total amount returned to $ 1.2 billion.

According to civil forfeiture complaints, more than $ 4.5 billion was embezzled by 1MDB officials and associates from 2009 to 2015.

Source: Reuters, US Department of Justice

SINGAPORE

A GIC-backed private equity offering for UK supermarket chain Morrisons increased its offering by 7% to nearly £ 10bn ($ 14bn). A unit of the American multinational Koch Industries is also behind the offer, which is led by Fortress, the private equity firm owned by Softbank.

Under the new agreement, GIC would own 13% of a holding company created to own the supermarket chain; Fortress and Koch would hold 65% and 22% respectively. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board would provide funding through its credit arm, but will hold no equity.

Fortress’s previous offer was approved by Morrison’s board of directors but contested by shareholders.

Source: Financial Time

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has confirmed that it is ready to grant operating licenses to several digital payment service providers, which analysts say is the city-state’s latest move to become a leading crypto-financial center in Asia.

However, successful applicants will need to put measures in place to meet its requirements, MAS added.

Observers said it would likely speed up the number of cryptocurrency companies setting up shop in Singapore. In January 2020, Singapore introduced cryptocurrency legislation requiring payment services to hold a financial license, allowing certain companies to operate while applying for the license. MAS said it received 170 license applications.

Source: South China Morning Post

INTERNATIONAL

Hong Kong-based real estate developer backed by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers) has agreed to acquire a leading real asset fund manager with $ 130 billion in assets under management (AUM) .

ESR Cayman has agreed to acquire ARA Asset Management for $ 7 billion. The acquisition would bring the company’s total assets under management to $ 175 billion, making it the largest manager of real estate and real estate assets in Asia-Pacific and the third largest in the world.

The deal will be concluded by early next year. Once completed, ARA will be a subsidiary of ESR.

ESR counts Omers and Chinese tech company JD.com as two of its major shareholders.

Source: Financial standard