The National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) is expected to today unveil a significant investment by the China Investment Corporation (CIC) in a new technology fund here. The investment is expected to be about €70 million.
The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eamonn Gilmore, will attend a launch for the fund in Dublin this morning.
Kick-start
This is another step along the path of transforming the NPRF into a strategic investment fund that will back projects in Ireland aimed at kick-starting activity in the economy.
The Irish pension fund has about €6.4 billion in the kitty and a number of strategic investment funds have already been unveiled.
Based in Beijing, CIC is a sovereign wealth fund established in September 2007. It started with $200 million of capital. Its overseas investment portfolio is mainly composed of equity, fixed income and alternative assets, in both developed and emerging markets. Its alternative investments include hedge funds, private equity, commodities and real estates.
It has achieved an annualised return of 10.60 per cent for overseas investments and a cumulative annualised return of 5.02 per cent since its inception.
Last February, it formulated a five-year strategic development plan to grow its activities.
CIC’s decision to invest in this technology fund will be seen as a vote of confidence in Ireland post the country’s exit from the EU-IMF bailout programme.
Biggest economy
China is the world's second biggest economy behind the United States and the Government is keen to foster closer economic ties with the Asian country.
