Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijan's state oil fund SOFAZ is planning to continue searching for commercially attractive real estate in Asia.

"It's not yet certain whether SOFAZ will manage to complete the investment policy in East and South-East Asia by purchasing Pine Avenue Tower A worth $447 million in Seoul," SOFAZ said. "It is difficult to reveal and examine the economically attractive real estate in this region, but SOFAZ will continue going ahead in this direction," the company added.

SOFAZ, an entity that accumulates and manages Azerbaijan's oil and gas revenues, said earlier that it can spend about $1 billion to purchase real estate in Asia and Australia. Almost a half of the claimed investments have been already made in the purchase of real estate in Seoul.

SOFAZ was established in 1999 with assets worth $271 million.

The main purposes of the fund are the accumulation of funds and placement of assets abroad to minimize negative impacts on economy to prevent the 'Dutch disease', ensuring savings for future generations, and maintaining the current social and economic standards in the country.

According to SOFAZ's investment strategy, up to five percent of the investment portfolio may be invested in stock, up to five percent in real estate and up to five percent in gold.

Earlier SOFAZ purchased Gallery Actor, a mixed-use office and retail complex located on Pushkin Square in Moscow for $133 million, an office complex in London's West End for £177.35 million and a property in Paris for €135 million.

Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and China, as well as Australia are being considered as the countries where SOFAZ can buy more real estate.

The assets of SOFAZ totaled $36.319 billion as of March 1, 2014.

As of 2013, some 3.3 percent of SOFAZ's investment portfolio was invested in gold, 1.8 percent in real estate and 4.1 percent in shares.