According to a recent report issued by Eurasia Capital, senior executives of eight sovereign wealth funds (SWF) including from China, Singapore, Korea, the UAE, Kuwait, Libya and others, visited Ulaanbaatar in the space of the last three months.  Singapore’s USD120-billion Temasek was the first to arrive. Last year, Temasek, together with Hopu Investment (USD2.5-billion private equity fund where Temasek is the largest investor) invested USD300 million in then Lung Ming (now Iron Mining International), a developer of iron ore mine in Mongolia. 

China Investment Corp, China’s USD300-billion SWF’ made headlines by committing USD1.2 billion in two transactions within one week in October, agreeing to invest USD500 million in SouthGobi Energy, a coal miner, and up to USD700 million in Iron Mining International.

Thanks to these above three deals, USD1.5 billion investments by SWFs already represent 30% of Mongolia’s USD5 billion GDP. While natural resources are the main area of interest for sovereign investors, visiting executives identified a broad range of other industries where they expect attractive investment opportunities due to the huge economic boom Mongolia is poised to experience. These include energy, transportation, infrastructure, banking, construction and property.