Weekly Digest: Temasek eyes $1bn stake in Indian snack maker; Thailand’s SSF plans global private assets foray | Asset Owners

TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK

Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd is in talks to buy a minority stake in Haldiram Snacks Pvt Ltd., people familiar with the matter said, in a transaction that may value India’s biggest snack maker at about $11 billion.

The Singapore state investor is holding preliminary talks to buy 10% -15% in Haldiram, according to the sources. Other bidders are also in the running, according to media reports.

 The investment may serve as a stepping stone towards a potential initial public offering (IPO) of the company, the people said.

Source: Business Standard; Bloomberg

Thailand’s $77 billion Social Security Fund will invest $11.6 billion in a new foray into global private assets, an executive told Reuters, part of a strategic overhaul to address poor returns amid rising demand from an ageing population.

Thailand’s biggest state fund, which supports healthcare, unemployment benefits and pensions for 25 million workers, has seen an average return of under 3% over the past 10 years.

That is far below its potential, and the fund plans to rectify that from next year by diversifying away from its domestic-focused strategy, investment board member Petch Vergara said in an interview.

Source: Reuters

OTHER INVESTMENT NEWS

AUSTRALIA

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Hines have jointly acquired two Build-to-Rent (BTR) assets in Brisbane, Australia, totalling 354 units.

This acquisition aligns with $188.3 billion Canadian pension fund’s real estate living strategy in Australia, targeting amenity-rich assets in vibrant submarkets.

The vendor was the ADCO Group, with projects managed by Arklife, a specialised BTR platform co-owned by ADCO.

Hines will provide asset management services, while Arklife continues as the property manager for both assets.

Source: OTPP

Colonial First State (CFS), Australia’s top-performing super fund of the last financial year, has ruled out adding cryptocurrencies to its investment portfolio.

Chief investment officer Jonathan Armitage cited extreme volatility and lack of underlying fundamentals as key reasons for the decision.

Despite crypto’s popularity among Australians, Armitage believes it’s too volatile for superannuation funds.

However, CFS remains interested in blockchain technology, the underlying tech behind cryptocurrencies.

The fund is invested in US-listed companies that provide access to these technologies, preferring to own the “picks and shovels” rather than searching for “gold” in the crypto market.

Source: Financial Standard

CHINA

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) signed a $100 million commitment toward climate transition investments in emerging Asia.

Of the total, $75 million will go to the Actis Asia Climate Transition Fund, managed by Actis, and up to $25 million will be a co-investment sleeve alongside the Fund.

This marks AIIB’s first climate transition-themed fund dedicated to emerging Asia and highlights the bank’s commitment to sustainable development and climate change mitigation in the region.

Source: AIIB

INDIA

High and ultra-high net worth individuals from India transferred approximately $130 billion in financial assets to family offices in Singapore last year.

This made India the city-state’s third largest source of such funds in the Asia Pacific, following China ($400 billion) and Indonesia ($140 billion) as of the end of 2023, according to a recent study by McKinsey & Company.

Hong Kong ranked fourth with $70 billion in transferred assets to Singapore; the rest of Asia collectively parked over $370 billion in the island nation.

Hong Kong is another popular destination for India’s wealth, with Indian family offices parking $105 billion at the end of last year.

Source: Business Standard

KOREA

National Pension Service (NPS) struggles to recruit investment managers, raising concerns about the quality of its fund management capabilities.

According to NPS data obtained by a lawmaker with Korea’s Rebuilding Korea Party, the number of NPS Investment Management staff stood at 362 as of the end of June — 53 short of its annual job quotas.

This is the largest vacancy level in the investment arm of NPS, the world’s third-largest pension fund, since 2017 when NPS Investment Management relocated its headquarters to Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, 240 kilometres south of Seoul, from the capital city.

Source: Korea Economic Daily

Korea Post opened a tender for a $300 million offshore infrastructure mandate, which plans to focus on energy transition assets in developed countries including North America and Europe.

The fund’s target size is $1.5 billion and has a six-year investment period, according to the request for proposals.

Korea Post will hire one to two asset managers for the mandate, which will be structured as a blind fund.

The fund will adopt core and value-add equity-focused strategies and will allocate up to 20% of total assets to energy sector in North America.

Source: Asia Asset Management

MALAYSIA

The Sarawak government is contemplating setting up a consolidated entity as its asset management and investment arm, said Abang Johari Openg.

The Premier said this entity could function similar to entities in developed countries such as Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and GIC, Mubadala Investment Company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China Investment Corporation, and Japan Investment Corporation.

“All government assets held by various statutory bodies and government-linked companies like Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), Sarawak Energy Berhad, and Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) would be consolidated under this one entity and to be run like any other business body,” he said.

Source: The Malay Mail

SINGAPORE

Sovereign wealth fund GIC agreed to acquire a 25% stake in waste management company Reworld. 

GIC will buy the stake from the EQT Infrastructure V fund via a combination of primary and secondary capital.

EQT Infrastructure took the company private in November 2021 and will remain the largest shareholder following the closing of the transaction. 

Reworld  offers environmentally responsible services to businesses and communities throughout North America.

Source: GIC

GIC and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP) teamed up with Equinix Inc to develop hyperscale data centres.

California-based Equinix intends to raise more than $15 billion with its partners and said it expects to purchase land to build hyperscale facilities and eventually add more than 1.5 gigawatts of new capacity for hyperscale customers in the US.

Equinix has a longstanding relationship with GIC, having previously partnered on hyperscale projects in Asia, the Americas and Europe.

Source: Equinix

(The above briefs have been curated from press releases and third-party sources.)

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