Azerbaijan's state oil fund Sofaz headquarters in Baku
Azeri oil fund's assets drop by 6.4pc to $34.7bn
BAKU, October 27, 2015
Azerbaijan's state oil fund's (Sofaz) assets fell by 6.38 per cent to $34.7 billion by October 1 from the start of the year, the fund said, hit by the drop in global oil prices.
Sofaz holds the proceeds from oil contracts, oil and gas sales, transit fees and other revenue. It uses income from investments to fund social spending and infrastructure projects.
The fund said its revenue reached 5.5 billion manats ($5.2 billion) by October 1, while expenditures were 6.4 billion manats.
Sofaz said in September it had made its first real estate investment in Japan, buying retail property Kirarito Ginza in Tokyo for 52.3 billion yen ($432.27 million) with Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation.
Sofaz bought 3 billion yuan ($472.31 million) worth of Chinese bonds denominated in yuan in July, saying the purchase was designed to diversify its currency exposures.
A Sofaz official had said in June that the fund would continue to diversify its real estate portfolio, which includes commercial assets across European and Asia Pacific markets.
The fund had spent 2.8 percent of its assets on real estate in Europe, Asia and Australia as of December 31, 2014, and total assets were up 3.42 percent year-on-year at $37.1 billion by Jan. 1, 2015. --Reuters
