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In case you have not yet accustomed to Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF in short), get used to it. In the coming decade they will be a major force to reckon with and the ones who are going to influence a lot of decision making process which in one way or other will have impact on your investment portfolio.

Here is a list of latest transactions by SWF, originally published by AP on Yahoo:

  • Dec. 10, 2007: UBS AG (UBS) announces that the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., a sovereign-wealth fund, is investing $9.75 billion for a 9 percent stake in the Swiss banking giant, while an undisclosed strategic investor in the Middle East is contributing $1.77 billion in UBS AG.
  • Nov. 26, 2007: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the sovereign investment fund of the Gulf Arab state, acquires a 4.9 percent stake in Citigroup Inc. (C), the largest U.S. bank, for $7.5 billion.
  • Nov. 7, 2007: Central Huijin Investment Co., China’s largest state-owned investment arm, acquires 71 percent of China’s joint-stock China Everbright Bank for $2.7 billion.
  • Oct. 29, 2007: Dubai International Capital, owned by Dubai-ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, acquires 9.9 percent outstanding equity stake in Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, a U.S.-based hedge fund, for more than $1.1 billion. Och-Ziff goes public in November on the New York Stock Exchange.
  • Oct. 22, 2007: China’s government-controlled Citic Securities Co. and U.S. investment bank Bear Stearns Cos.(BSC) agree to invest $1 billion in each other for minority stakes that could be expanded. They will also operate a 50-50 joint venture in Hong Kong to offer capital markets services across Asia.
  • Sept. 20, 2007: The Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar’s sovereign investment fund, acquires a 20 percent stake in the London Stock Exchange and nearly 10 percent of Nordic bourse operator OMX AB.
  • Sept. 20, 2007: Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Co., an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government, buys a 7.5 percent stake of the management operations of one of the world’s largest private-equity firms, Carlyle Group, for $1.35 billion.
  • July 23, 2007: China Development Bank, a Chinese state agency, agrees to pay $3 billion for a 3.1 percent stake in British bank Barclays PLC, and Temasek Holdings, a sovereign wealth fund in Singapore, agrees to pay $2 billion for a 1.77 percent stake in Barclays.
  • July 13, 2007: Dubai International Capital purchases a 2.87 percent stake in one of India’s largest banks, ICICI Bank Ltd. (IBN), for $750 million.
  • May 20, 2007: China’s state investment company agrees to pay $3 billion for a 10 percent stake in U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group LP (BX). The Chinese investment company agreed to buy nonvoting shares in Blackstone concurrent with Blackstone’s initial public offering.
  • May 2, 2007: Dubai International Capital buys an undisclosed stake in British bank HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC).

Bottomline - SWF are on shopping spree and currently banks are on sale. Soon the companies with “real” assets and sound business model will see funds flowing in. Why- a) why should someone sell his assets to for the paper that can be created overnight aka US$ and b) no one likes to keep a depreciating asset specially when few % points means billions.

Welcome SWFs, I am looking forward to your entry as it makes investments “Highly Certain and Less Volatile”.

Profitable trading, OP