Sovereign Wealth Funds have become increasingly powerful and influential investors. Their increasing role, and unusual character as both political and market actors, raise a number of issues with regard to finance, politics, regulation, and international business. This handbook draws together the growing but fragmented research on SWFs.
Who holds the power in financial markets? For many, the answer would probably be the large investment banks, big asset managers, and hedge funds that are often in the media's spotlight. But more and more a new group of sovereign investors, which includes some of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, government pension funds, central bank reserve funds, state-owned enterprises, and other sovereign capital-enabled entities, have emerged to become the most influential capital markets players and investment firms, with $30 trillion in assets under management ("super asset owners"). Their ample resources, preference for lower profile, passive investing, their long-time horizon and adherence to sustainability as well as their need to diversify globally and by sector have helped to transform the investment world and, in particular, private markets for digital companies. They have helped create and sustain an environment that has fostered the rise of the likes of Uber, Alibaba, Spotify and other transformative players in the digital economy, while providing their founders and business models the benefit of long-term capital. Despite this increasingly important impact, sovereign investors remain mostly unknown, often maintaining a low profile in global markets. For the same reason, they’re also among the most widely misunderstood, as many view investments made by sovereign investors as purely driven by political aims. The general perception is that most sovereign investors lack transparency and have questionable governance controls, causing an investee nation to fear exposure to risks of unfair competition, data security, corruption, and non-financially or non-economically motivated investments. The current global tensions around the AI race and tech competition – and now the corona virus pandemic – have exacerbated such misperceptions, spawning controversies around sovereign investors and capital markets, governments, new technologies, cross-border investments, and related laws and regulations. As such, sovereign capital and the global digital economy are undergoing an unprecedented, contentious moment. In short, the emergence of sovereign funds symbolizes a major shift of the world’s economic power. For the first time, investment funds from developing countries are playing with OECD financial giants as equals. Furthermore, their investments into high tech enable them to participate at the cutting-edge of the fourth industrial revolution, challenging traditional innovation powerhouses like the US and Germany. For all stakeholders, from tech unicorns, VC funds, asset managers, financial firms, to policymakers, law firms, academics, and the general public, this is the must-have book to get to know these new venture capitalists and "super asset owners".
What new directions in China’s digital economy mean for us all China is the largest homogenous digital market on Earth: unified by language, culture, and mobile payments. Not only a consumer market of unrivaled size, it’s also a vast and hyperactive innovation ecosystem for new technologies. And as China’s digital economy moves from a consumer-focused phase to an enterprise-oriented one, Chinese companies are rushing to capitalize on ways the newer wave of tech—the Internet of Things, AI, blockchain, cloud computing, and data analytics (iABCD)—can unlock value for their businesses from non-traditional angles. In China’s Data Economy, Winston Ma—investment professional, capital markets attorney, adjunct professor of digital economy, and bestselling author—details the profound global implications of this new direction, including how Chinese apps for services such as food delivery expand so quickly they surpass their U.S. models within a couple of years, and how the sheer scale and pace of Chinese innovation might lead to an AI arms race in which China and the U.S. vie aggressively for leadership. How China’s younger netizens participate in their evolving digital economy as consumers, creators, and entrepreneurs Why Online/Office (OMO, Online-merge-with-Offline) integration is viewed as the natural next step on from the O2O (Online-to-Offline) model used in the rest of the world The ways in which traditional Chinese industries such as retail, banking, and insurance are innovating to stay in the game What emerging markets can learn from China as they leapfrog past the personal computer age altogether, diving straight into the mobile-first economy Anyone interested in what’s next for Chinese digital powerhouses—investors, governments, entrepreneurs, international business players—will find this an essential guide to what lies ahead as China’s flexes new digital muscles to create new forms of value and challenge established tech giants across the world.
Over the past decade, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have proliferated and have increased their role in the international economy. China now has four SWFs and accounts for one-fifth of global SWF assets. China Investment Corp. (CIC), China's flagship SWF, has increased its assets from $200 billion to an estimated $500 billion in just five years as a result of funding and other support from the Chinese government. This book examines the operations and investment strategy of CIC. It also considers how China's SWFs are being regulated in the United States and internationally. The book builds on hearings and research conducted by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) in 2008. At the time, CIC had just purchased equity in Wall Street firms Morgan Stanley and Blackstone. Since then, CIC has bought shares in dozens of publicly traded U.S. companies, partnered with U.S. fund managers, and provided capital to U.S. energy companies.
Relations between China and Israel have expanded rapidly since the early 2000s in numerous areas, including diplomacy, trade, investment, construction, educational partnerships, scientific cooperation, and tourism. Israel seeks to expand its diplomatic, economic, and strategic ties with the world's fastest-growing major economy and diversify its export markets and investments. China seeks Israel's advanced technology and values Israel's location as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese investments in Israel have grown substantially and include investments in high-tech companies that produce sensitive technologies as well as the construction and operation of key infrastructure projects. Chinese investment in sensitive technologies and construction of major Israeli infrastructure projects present distinct concerns for Israel and the United States. The authors examine the extent and nature of Chinese investments in Israeli technology and infrastructure and discuss the security implications these pose for Israel and the United States. The primary concern regarding investment relates to Chinese ownership of companies that might possess sensitive technology or data; concerns over construction are focused on the use of infrastructure projects to further Chinese foreign policy goals. The operation of infrastructure projects affords China unique surveillance opportunities and possibly economic and political levers of influence. The report concludes with a set of open-ended questions that merit further investigation to better understand the magnitude of risks associated with Chinese investment in the Israeli market.
Over the past decade, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have proliferated and have increased their role in the international economy. China now has four SWFs and accounts for one-fifth of global SWF assets. China Investment Corp. (CIC), China's flagship SWF, has increased its assets from $200 billion to an estimated $500 billion in just five years as a result of funding and other support from the Chinese government. This book examines the operations and investment strategy of CIC. It also considers how China's SWFs are being regulated in the United States and internationally. The book builds on hearings and research conducted by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) in 2008. At the time, CIC had just purchased equity in Wall Street firms Morgan Stanley and Blackstone. Since then, CIC has bought shares in dozens of publicly traded U.S. companies, partnered with U.S. fund managers, and provided capital to U.S. energy companies.
A Best Business Book of 2017 -- The Financial Times China is now the biggest foreign player in Africa. It's Africa's largest trade partner, the largest infrastructure financier, and the fastest-growing source of foreign direct investment. Chinese entrepreneurs are flooding into the continent, investing in long-term assets such as factories and heavy equipment. Considering Africa's difficult history of colonialism, one might suspect that China's activity there is another instance of a foreign power exploiting resources. But as author Irene Yuan Sun vividly shows in this remarkable book, it is really a story about resilient Chinese entrepreneurs building in Africa what they so recently learned to build in China--a global manufacturing powerhouse. The fact that China sees Africa not for its poverty but for its potential wealth is a striking departure from the attitude of the West, particularly that of the United States. Despite fifty years of Western aid programs, Africa still has more people living in extreme poverty than any other region in the world. Those who are serious about raising living standards across the continent know that another strategy is needed. Chinese investment gives rise to a tantalizing possibility: that Africa can industrialize in the coming generation. With a manufacturing-led transformation, Africa would be following in the footsteps of the United States in the nineteenth century, Japan in the early twentieth, and the Asian Tigers in the late twentieth. Many may consider this an old-fashioned way to develop, but as Sun argues, it's the only one that's proven to raise living standards across entire societies in a lasting way. And with every new Chinese factory boss setting up machinery and hiring African workers--and managers--that possibility becomes more real for Africa. With fascinating and moving human stories along with incisive business and economic analysis, The Next Factory of the World will make you rethink both China's role in the world and Africa's future in the globalized economy.
What will happen when China can make nearly everything the U.S. and Europe can make--at one-third the cost? Fishman delves into dangerous question that not everyone wants answered.
Now in an updated paperback edition, Why Taiwan Matters offers a comprehensive but compact introduction to a country that exercises a role in the world far greater than its tiny size would indicate. Leading expert Shelley Rigger explains how Taiwan became such a key global player, highlighting economic and political breakthroughs so impressive they have been called "miracles." She links these accomplishments to Taiwan's determined society, vibrant culture, and unique history. Drawing on arts, economics, politics, and international relations, Rigger explores Taiwan's importance to China, the United States, and the world. Considering where Taiwan may be headed in its wary standoff with China, she traces how the focus of Taiwan's domestic politics has shifted to a Taiwan-centered strategy. All readers interested in Asia and international affairs will find this an accessible and entertaining overview, replete with human interest stories and colorful examples of daily life in Taiwan.
