figures

This page highlights figures on sovereign wealth fund investment.

It covers -

• introduction
• sizes
• forex

     introduction

US merger & acquisition (M&A) in 2006 was estimated as an aggregate US$3.62 trillion, roughly the same as some estimates of the size of sovereign wealth assets.

As preceding pages noted, the nature and extent of holdings by some funds and nations is very unclear. Estimates are therefore problematical. Some investment involves participation in private equity funds and hedge funds. Some investment involves use of nominee companies and trustees in jurisdictions such as Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Some investment uses vehicles, such as Kuwait's St Martin's property group, that are perceived by non-specialists as being Australian or UK rather than fuelled by petrodollars.

     sizes

Simon Johnson of the IMF commented in 2007

Sovereign funds have existed at least since the 1950s, but their total size worldwide has increased dramatically over the past 10­15 years. In 1990, sovereign funds probably held, at most, $500 billion; the current total is an estimated $2­3 trillion and, based on the likely trajectory of current accounts, could reach $10 trillion by 2012 ...

Is $3 trillion a lot of money? It depends on the comparison. U.S. GDP is $12 trillion, the total value of traded securities (debt and equity) denominated in U.S. dollars is estimated to be more than $50 trillion, and the global value of traded securities is about $165 trillion. In that context, $3 trillion is significant but not huge.

It is, however, large relative to the size of some emerging markets. The total value of traded securities in Africa, the Middle East, and emerging Europe combined is about $4 trillion; this is also roughly the size of these markets in all of Latin America. And total assets under management by private hedge funds—a broad category of private investment funds that seek high returns and, as a consequence, often take on considerable risks—are estimated to be around $2 trillion.

One estimate of the size of different funds (in US$m) as of late 2007 was -

Country UAE Norway Saudi A Kuwait China Singapore Singapore Dubai Libya Algeria Qatar Alaska Brunei Malaysia Russia S Korea France Kazakhstan Taiwan Alberta Iran Chile Nigeria Abu Dhabi Botswana Oman Azerbaijan E Timor Venezuela Québec Trinidad Kiribati Nauru

SWF Name/Agency - Govt Pension F - FFG CIC Temasek GIC DIC LIA FrR QIA Permt Reserve F Brunei Invstmt Auth Khazanah Nasional Stabilisation F KIC FRR National F Natnl Stabilisation F AHTF Oil Stabilisation F Copper F Excess Crude Acct Mubadala Pula F State General RF State Oil F Timor-Leste Petro F FIEM F des générations RSF RERF LTIF

Assets 690,000 341,200 300,000 250,000 200,000 159,210 100,000 80,000 40,000 42,600 50,000 38,000 30,000 25,700 24,000 20,000 19,200 17,600 15,800 15,500 15,000 14,820 11,000 10,000 6,800 2,000 1,500 1,200 756 560 460 400 60

Est 1976 1996 N/A 1953 2007 1974 1981 1984 2007 2000 N/A 1976 1983 1993 2003 2006 1999 2000 N/A 1976 1999 1985 2003 N/A 1966 1980 1999 2005 1998 2006 2000 1956 1968

Base Oil Oil Oil Oil Other Other Other Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Other Oil Other Other Oil Other Oil Oil Copper Oil Oil Diamonds Oil Oil Oil Oil Electricity Oil Phosphates Phosphates

The Australian SWF - the Future Fund - was worth A$61 billion as of October 2007.

     forex

One perspective is provided by IMF figures on official foreign exchange reserves (in US$bn) -

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