People's Bank of China Buys Stake in BG Group · 2 August 2007, 11:44 CET by Charles Vermeulen
Between June 15 and July 13 the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank, has purchased a 0.46% interest in UK gas giant BG Group, allegedly on behalf of a Chinese sovereign wealth fund, which will be probably named ‘China Investment Corp’ (CIC) and which is ‘being set up to manage $200 billion of China’s $1.33 trillion in foreign exchange reserves’. According to Eurasia Group this ‘CIC will almost certainly increase its very small initial investment in BG Group, raising the prospect of a potential future takeover bid’. Read more about it in ‘China buys 0.46 pct of Britain’s BG Group’, a Reuters report.
bg group,
china,
china investment corp,
cic,
pboc,
people's bank of china,
sovereign-wealth funds
On the Rise of Sovereign-Wealth Funds · 1 August 2007, 11:33 CET by Charles Vermeulen
To make possible a higher offer on the biggest bank of the Netherlands, ABN Amro NV, UK bank Barclays has called in the assistance of the China Development Bank (CDB) and Temasek, the investment company owned by the Singaporean government. CDB and Temasek have invested € 3,6 billion and will invest another € 7,6 billion if Barclays actually succeeds in beating the competing consortium consisting of Royal Bank of Scotland, Fortis and Banco Santander and taking over ABN Amro. In ‘Sovereign-wealth funds. China takes the bank. How sovereign investors plan to operate’ The Economist lines up some pro’s and risks of these so-called ‘sovereign-wealth funds’. More interesting reading material on the subject: ‘Barclays Deal Spurs Drive to Limit Government-Fund Investments’, an article by Ben Sills and Simon Kennedy on Bloomberg.com.
abn amro,
barclays,
cdb,
china,
china development bank,
netherlands,
royal bank of scotland,
sovereign-wealth funds,
temasek