President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev today received Berry Sternlichs, founder and executive director of the world's largest alternative investment management company "Starwood Capital Group". According to the website of the head of state, Aliyev positively assessed the close cooperation of the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan with "Starwood Capital Group". At that, he emphasized the importance of continuing efforts to further strengthen the existing partnership. Aliyev noted the growth of assets of the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan even during the period of unstable financial markets. During the meeting, it was pointed out that there are favorable investment conditions in Azerbaijan, the presence of good opportunities for investment in the energy sector, alternative energy, logistics, tourism of Azerbaijan was emphasized. Recall thst "Starwood Capital Group" is one of the world's leading investment companies in the field of alternative investment management. It was founded in 1991 and currently manages $120 billion in assets, including real estate, lending and energy infrastructure strategies. The headquarters of the company, which has invested in more than 35 countries around the world, is located in the United States of America. According to Turan, for 9 months of 2022, more than 80 percent of the investment portfolio consisted of bonds, monetary instruments, and shares, 12 percent - of gold, and 6.4 percent - of real estate. The Fund placed its investments mainly in the USA (30.7 percent), Western Europe (29.2 percent), and Asia (20.2 percent). The share of Western Europe and North America in the investment portfolio of the State Oil Fund is up to 60 percent. Currently, seven foreign managers manage a part of the funds of SOFAZ, including the World Bank, DWS Group GmbH and Co. KGaA (DWS), UBS Global Asset Management, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), BlackRock, Inc., Mellon Capital Management and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings, Inc. According to the investment policy, up to 10 percent of the total value of the investment portfolio can be directed to real estate. Since 2012, SOFAZ has invested in office and commercial complexes located in London, Moscow, Paris, and Milan (sold) in Europe, as well as in Seoul (sold) and Tokyo in Asia. Since the funds of SOFAZ mainly consist of shares and bonds quoted on the stock exchange expressed in various currencies (about 80% of the investment portfolio), these fluctuations experienced in the financial markets were observed with setbacks in the investment portfolio of SOFAZ.-06B-
Source: Turan News Agency