中国投资有限责任公司

A Year of More: IFSWF Annual Review 2021 Released

20-06-2022

The International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) has released its annual review of sovereign wealth fund investments in 2021, titled A Year of More.

The annual review reveals that sovereign wealth funds identified a wealth of opportunities in the market dislocations of the COVID-19 pandemic aligned with three key themes:

A Record-Breaking Year: 2021 broke records for the number of direct investments made by sovereign wealth funds, jumping from 316 in 2020 to 429 in 2021, a 50% increase year-on-year, and a 60% increase in the average number of deals in any of the previous five years. The value of those deals also climbed in 2021, reaching $71.6 billion, up from $67.8 billion in 2020.

Public or Private: a False Dichotomy: Sovereign wealth funds have been increasing allocations to unlisted assets for the best part of a decade. But now, they seek to generate real durable value by backing less mature companies instead of recycling existing wealth and boosting returns by occasionally making contrarian bets in market dislocation.

Real Assets, Real Returns: Infrastructure assets play an important role in diversifying sovereign wealth fund portfolios. COVID-19 has had a range of effects on infrastructure. For some sub-sectors, such as passenger-linked transport assets, 2020 and 2021 were difficult years. For others, such as digital infrastructure and renewables, they were standout. Sovereign wealth funds have backed these trends, which will benefit from the energy transition and rising demand for digital services.

International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF)

The IFSWF is a global organization of main sovereign wealth funds worldwide. As a founding member and board member of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF), CIC has diligently implemented the Santiago Principles for the governance of sovereign wealth funds and has contributed to the development of the forum and broader adoption of the Principles globally.