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KIA eyes investments abroad but steers clear of US bank bailouts
The Kuwait Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund, stepped up investments at home and prepared to hunt for bargains in Asia, after saying it had lost interest in US bank bailouts, state media said.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:56 September 28, 2008
Kuwait City: The Kuwait Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund, stepped up investments at home and prepared to hunt for bargains in Asia, after saying it had lost interest in US bank bailouts, state media said.
KIA has invested up to 300 million dinars (Dh4 billion) in local stock market funds after the recent slide in shares, newspapers said yesterday.
The news came as state media reported KIA, which manages Kuwait's massive oil-generated assets, was also seeking to boost investments in Asia's emerging markets, among them Singapore.
Daily Al Qabas said in an unsourced report KIA poured between 280 million dinars and 300 million dinars into several stock market funds managed by seven investment firms at the end of last week.
The Kuwaiti bourse was up 1.3 per cent by 0750 GMT in line with other Gulf markets. KIA officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Last week, KIA Managing Director Bader Al Saad said there was no limit to the amount the wealth fund might spend on the local bourse after the Arab world's second-largest stock market took a hit like other Gulf bourses.
KIA has disclosed investments on the Kuwaiti bourse worth 3.4 billion dinars, according to the Al-Joman Centre for Economic Consultancy. Saad also said last week KIA would consider investments in the real estate sector and financial industry in the United States, Europe and Asia but not bail out troubled banks.
KIA has come under fire from some parliamentarians for investing in January $5 billion into US banks Citigroup and Merrill Lynch.
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