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’The Sovereign’s Wealth Fund
Poor Queen.
The House of Saud controls the world’s largest oil reserves, and with them, a tidy annual revenue stream of about $200bn.
The House of Windsor gets an annual dividend from a stake in a glorified buy-to-let property fund,
Sovereign wealth, a Gulf ‘supply chain’ risk
As the jackboot comes down hard in Bahrain on Wednesday, it’s worth asking what happened to the ‘modern’ ambitions of the Gulf monarchies who are providing military, financial and political support to the ruling Khalifa family.
GCC launches a Sovereign Health Fund for Bahrain and Oman
You’re familiar with SWFs — and the damage they can cause in the wrong hands — but on Thursday Bloomberg carried news of what we’ll call a Sovereign Health Fund (SHF):
The Gulf Cooperation Council plans to set up a fund worth more than $10 billion,
The great Gaddafi cash call
By this point, the assets of the Libyan Investment Authority are frozen in just about every major financial jurisdiction. Except, of course, Libya.
So, a quick question. Is a sovereign wealth fund financing a war?
Because here’s a revelation from the NYT:
Further further reading
For the commute home, and to help you qualify the recovery,
- David Wessel spots three storm clouds in the US recovery: oil, rich-country government policy, and emerging market slowdown.
- David Leonhardt spots a few more.
SWFs, plotted
Courtesy of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institue:
We’ve got the same question as the Oxford SWF Project: If the funds on the left are low in transparency, how do we know their strategy?
Release the hounds, er, Irish SWF!
Ireland’s prime minister was busy introducing his post-bailout government’s four-year fiscal plan at pixel time.
There is a lot to chew on. For starters, the questionable assumption that 2.5 per cent GNP growth will cushion fiscal cuts right up to 2014.
The world backs away from Ireland, Spain, Portugal
There’s something missing from the Russian Finance Ministry’s website.
Via Google Translate:
Ireland and Spain are no longer eligible for investment by Russia’s two sovereign wealth funds — a canny spot by Bloomberg.
The self-denying sovereign wealth fund
This is – in a way - yet another of those posts commemorating the fall of Lehman Brothers, two years ago to the day.
Then again — the post-Lehman sovereign wealth fund really has become something to behold,
Morgan Stanley’s Chinese irony
Morgan Stanley’s word of the week in China has to be “irony”, as news emerged late on Tuesday that the US Federal Reserve has given the go-ahead for China Investment Corp, the country’s main sovereign wealth fund,
Adventures in equity knife-catching, SWF edition (updated)
If you’re a BP investor who thought twice about catching the falling knife of the firm’s post-Gulf spill shares this summer — well, spare a thought for Norway.
Thanks to the government’s sovereign wealth fund,
How to say ‘more please’ in Chinese
For a prime example of investor chutzpah, look no further than China Investment Corp, the country’s mega sovereign wealth fund, which has just done a deal with Apax to invest €685m (£599m) in the UK private equity group’s €11.2bn buy-out fund.
A Thai SWF? More if than when.
Back in December, Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told attendees at a conference in Bangkok that the country’s central bank has been considering setting up a sovereign wealth fund.
According to a report in AsianInvestor,
SWF datapoint du jour
Built on the oil revenue that’s transformed Norway into one of the richest and best places to live on the planet, the fund lost 14.5 percent of its value through September. The third quarter was the worst in its 18-year history.
Mon petit complex Napoleon
Abu Dhabi – $875bn
Norway – $391bn
Singapore (GIC) – $330bn
Kuwait – $264bn
China – $200bn
…
France – $7.6bn
From Bloomberg:
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy
Sarkozy plans new French wealth fund
Nicolas Sarkozy said France would set up a new “strategic investment fund” to stop French companies from falling into the hands of foreign “predators”. The new fund will be operated by Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations — the country’s existing sovereign wealth fund – but would be “more active,
Sarkozy calls for European wealth funds
France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy called yesterday for the creation of European sovereign wealth funds to buy stakes in companies with low share prices and protect them from foreign predators. His proposal
Coming soon – principled SWFs
Not GAAP but GAPP for the world’s sovereign wealth funds.
The International Working Group of Sovereign Wealth Funds said yesterday it had reached an agreement with members on “Generally Accepted Principles and Practices”
‘Stead LBO, SWF: The new carry trade
The oil-rich sovereign wealth funds have it good, if we didn’t already know that. Citigroup’s Robert Buckland reinforces the idea in his latest Global Equity Strategy note to clients, in which he claims a new carry trade – with SWFs poised to be prime beneficiaries:
Tin Hat Time!: FT Alphaville’s credit crunch anniversary video
If you’re missing the – err, well, you know, the razor-sharp analysis and pithy one-liners of FT Alphaville’s Paul Murphy (while he tries, in his island hideaway, to forget we all exist), see FT.com’s video,
SWFs cut exposure to weak dollar
Some of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds are seeking to scale back their exposure to the US dollar as continuing market turbulence has further shaken their faith in US policy and policymakers.
In defence of sovereign wealth funds
We may, after all, be needing their largesse again.
The Goldman Sachs economics team, led by Jim O’Neill, has come out forcibly in favour of the funds – whose rapid growth and investments in beleaguered US and European financial institutions has drawn consternation from western policymakers and regulators.
China to go Scandi in bid to appease US angst
Affable Chinese man maintains charming facade as he repeatedly deals with spurious accusations.
It would be a good strapline for the 60 Minute interview with Gao Xiqing, president of the Chinese Investment Corporation.
The rise of the sovereign wealth funds
Relatively that is. Amid the doom and gloom surrounding the worst start to a year for deal-making, the role of the sovereign wealth fund in global M&A is on the up. Numbers from Dealogic show that SWF investments,
Lombard: SWFs could adopt the easy-peasy private equity template
So much turbulent water has passed under the bridge since last year’s fuss in the UK about private equity firms and transparency that the first sighting of an “annual review” – from Bridgepoint Capital,
Pity the sovereign wealth fund
Oh dear. Sovereign wealth hysteria reaches Europe. This is most disappointing.
The backlash against the backlash against sovereign wealth funds is just getting going, but it has previously been across the Atlantic where the most outrageous mud-slinging and scare-mongering about the terrible threat of foreigners bearing cash has been found.