Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 27 /Trend A. Tagiyeva/
The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) is starting to invest in real estate in Turkey, a Turkish government source reported to Trend.
"The State Oil Fund is currently considering proposals. Commercial office property in the country's private sector is particularly preferred," the source said.
He said SOFAZ is considering the purchase of property in Istanbul. However, the expansion of investments in property located in other Turkish cities is also possible in future.
The source also noted the first stage of investment will cover several millions of dollars, but the increase of investments in Turkey is planned to reach several tens of millions of dollars.
The head of the Directory on Fund Managements Israfil Mammadov has previously noted in his interview with Turkish mass media that the total real estate portfolio of SOFAZ will be increased to reach 200 million dollars. The fund is currently considering real estate property in a number of countries in Europe and South Eastern Asia. Properties in London, Paris, Rome and Moscow as well as in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are particularly being considered.
According to the Fund's investment policy for 2012, 85 per cent of SOFAZ's investment portfolio will be formed from money market instruments and the debt market.
Up to five per cent of investment portfolio has to be contributed to the shares,another five per cent to real estate and five per cent to gold, the document reads.
The maximum volume of portfolio in shares has been determined in SOFAZ's investment policy for the first time. Moreover, gold and real estate are moving in completely new directions for fund investments.
The projected total price (average volume) of SOFAZ's investment portfolio for 2012 is determined at the level of 23 billion manat, whereas it was projected at the level of 19.4 billion manats as of the end of 2011.
SOFAZ assets as of July 1 2012 amounted 32 666 million dollars, increasing by 9.6 per cent in comparison with the beginning of the year (29.8 billion dollars)
SOFAZ was established in 1999, when its assets amounted to 271 million dollars.
The official exchange rate as of Sept. 27 is 0.7853 AZN/USD.