Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, said that it is still looking for long-term investment opportunities in China across a wide range of industries. It is also said that it keeps a lot of money in big markets like China.
The statement comes after the Financial Times said earlier in the day that GIC had stopped private investments in the second-largest economy in the world because it was paying more attention to risks.
The FT said that unnamed sources said that GIC cut back on investments in private equity and venture capital funds focused on China over the past year.
“Deal-flow slowed down in China last year,” a GIC spokeswoman told Reuters in an email on Tuesday. “However, our on-the-ground team continues to look for long-term opportunities in many sectors due to a growing middle class, an entrepreneurial private sector, and China’s efforts to cut carbon emissions.”
SWFI, a research firm, says that GIC has $690 billion in assets, making it the fifth largest sovereign investor in the world. It has big Chinese companies that are publicly traded in its portfolio, and it hasn’t made any big sales of privately held Chinese companies in the past year.
“Because China’s domestic market is so big, investors have a good chance of investing in good companies and growing with them over time,” said the statement.
In the year ending in March 2022, the US was GIC’s biggest market, making up 37% of its portfolio. Asia, excluding Japan, made up 25% of its portfolio.
After a big crackdown on regulations in China in 2021, venture capital investment dropped sharply in 2022, and many investors saw their Chinese portfolios lose money. Due to a sell-off in equity markets, venture capital investments have also dropped sharply around the world.
Jeffrey Jaensubhakij, the group chief investment officer for GIC, has also said that China’s rules have become much clearer.
During a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, he said that investors could make money by putting money into small companies in China. He also said that GIC was working with companies and other investors to find such opportunities.