Private Equity Insights reported:
China Investment Corp. is close to completing the sale of about $1bn in US private equity stakes, marking one of the largest sovereign-wealth disposals in the secondary market this year, according to sources cited by Bloomberg.Paris-based Ardian is said to be among the final bidders for the portfolio, which includes positions in funds managed by Carlyle, Hellman & Friedman, and Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe.CIC relaunched the process after pausing an earlier attempt to sell similar stakes in vehicles run by Carlyle, KKR, and TPG.The sovereign fund’s sale comes amid a broader wave of secondary activity. Singapore’s GIC has been exploring a $1bn disposal of private equity fund stakes in Blackstone, Apollo, and TDR Capital.
Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) are essentially a government sponsored private equity underwriter (PEU). Both have been in the news lately. The Ukraine-Russian peace plan arose from Russia's SWF according to Red Team Rep. Mike McCaul.
Saudi SWFs were front and center during the Crown Prince's recent visit to the White House. PEUs with Saudi money have a lead role in Middle East Peace (Jared Kushner of Affinity Partners)..
Apparently, there is nothing a greed and leverage boy cannot do. Actually, there is. They can't seem to return funds to investors such that they don't need to dump their stakes in the secondary market. CIC committed $350 million to Carlyle funds in 2013. CIC made additional Carlyle investments in 2016 & 2017.
If PEUs fail at the most basic part of their job (returning money to investors), why would we expect them to be good at diplomacy or youth sports team management, much less healthcare or the kajillion other things government leaders are charging them with?
Riddle me that....
Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren. Increasingly, more are one.