The Hunt for Unicorns

The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds Are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy presents a comprehensive analysis of the varied investment considerations, strategic motives, governance traits and regulatory challenges of sovereign investors - the so-called Trillion Dollar Club - as the salient global players of new capitalism. This new group of asset owners is driving the business of asset management to a new frontier and is also taking innovative steps to make the most of their capital scale and long-time horizons, finding new ways to attract talent, to collaborate, and to build greater alignment with the users of capital while simultaneously dealing with heightened scrutiny and pushback - especially in the tech and data industries - from investee country regulators, politicians and interest groups. They are changing the rules of capital markets and consequently, the rising digital economy - as we know it. This book covers the three intersecting aspects of sovereign investors' pursuit of digital revolution: their strategy and institutional setup, their investments and impact, and national/multinational regulatory policy responses. The authors have teamed up to map the global footprints of these financial institutions, examining their governance and investment management, and issues of domestic and international legitimacy. Along with the most current case studies - from the China Investment Corporation to the funds of the Middle East and to the pensions of Canada, Nordic lands and the US - this book identifies the leading practices among existing funds and establishes an analytical framework for assessing the critical policy and institutional aspects that legislators, policymakers and practitioners need to consider for cooperating with, regulating, or reforming an existing sovereign investor, as well as establishing a new one, for new economy investments and related policy goals. Key points of the book include: * The institutional side of capital markets was built around pension funds and insurance companies. Today, however, their team size, asset scale, and global resources are dwarfed by those of sovereign investors. Compared to traditional institutional investors, sovereign investors are making larger investments for longer time horizons. As the world economy undergoes digital transformation, they are the most significant source of capital supply with the longest term impact. * Sovereign investors have fundamentally transformed the global capital markets, even though just over a decade ago, they were mostly passive investors little heeded by the outside world. Especially in recent years, they've been active in global debt markets, foreign direct investments, equity merger & acquisitions, multinational projects, among others, creating challenging topics to business and legal communities around the world. Their depth of cash and patient style have, in no small part, made possible the rise of the tech world "unicorn" startups and lowered returns on infrastructure assets. * They have introduced new approaches and aroused new concerns and reactions. They are more innovative in investment models and alternative asset allocation, best illustrated by their direct exposure to "new economy" technology venture investments amid the current fourth industrial revolution, among other market-defining movements.