U.K. Prosecutors to Assist U.S. on Fund Bribery Probes

U.K. prosecutors are assisting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on inquiries involving financial institutions and whether bribes were paid in transactions with sovereign wealth funds.

The Serious Fraud Office, which prosecutes corruption and white collar crime in Britain, has been contacted by the U.S. regarding the probes, SFO Director Richard Alderman said in an interview yesterday.

“We’re talking to the Americans about various issues,” Alderman said, without specifically identifying the companies.

Where is Iraqi Kurdistan's Sovereign Wealth Fund?

After years of war, oppression, and uncertainty, Iraqi Kurds have reason for optimism. Under monarchy, republic, and the Baath dictatorship, the central government in Baghdad at best ignored and more often sought to undermine Iraqi Kurdistan's development. While rumors swirled for decades about oil deposits under Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraqi policy and international sanctions prevented its exploitation.

No longer: despite disputes with Baghdad, the Kurdistan Regional Government has sold international companies rights for exploitation and development of the region's petroleum resources. There are more than 40 different oil companies from more than a dozen countries operating in Iraqi Kurdistan. A few companies already produce oil. Many others are on the verge, having completed both exploration and the digging of test wells.

Goldman's Paperwork Flub

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. had no standard contracts in place to protect itself when it made $1.3 billion in options trades for Libya's sovereign-wealth fund controlled by Col. Moammar Gadhafi, according to people familiar with the situation.

While such contracts aren't required by law, they are routine operating procedure at banks and securities firms around the world when structuring derivatives transactions in opaque markets such as credit-default swaps, futures and options.

China sovereign fund tipped to buy stake in Sberbank-paper

(Reuters) - China Investment Corp , the country's $300 billion sovereign wealth fund, is tipped to buy a 5 percent stake in Sberbank , Russia's biggest lender, a Chinese newspaper reported, citing sources.

The 21st Century Business Herald reported that an unidentified investment bank that is arranging the partial privatisation of Sberbank has contacted CIC for a possible deal.

Norway Oil Fund Confident Euro Survives With Doubts Increasing Over Greece

The chief executive officer of Norway’s $570 billion sovereign wealth fund said the European Monetary Union, which consists of 17 countries sharing the euro currency, will survive amid increasing doubts that Greece will avoid becoming the first member to default on its debts.

“Some people are saying Europe is facing a choice, there is fiscal union or there is a break-up of the euro,” Yngve Slyngstad, the head of the Oslo-based fund, said yesterday in an interview. “I don’t think that’s necessarily true for the union. It may be true for one single member for the moment.”

Samruk-Kazyna plans to acquire up to 25% in Alliance Bank, BTA Bank, Narodny Bank and Kazkommertsbank, advisor to Kazakhstan prime minister says

Samruk-Kazyna, a Kazakhstan state-owned fund, is planning to acquire up to 25% of the ordinary voting shares in the four largest banks in Kazakhstan, said Alexander Mirtchev, one of the directors of Kazyna Fund and advisor to the prime minister of Kazakhstan.

Central banks buy up Australian dollar bonds

ASIAN and South American central banks are becoming major buyers of Australian government bonds in a move to diversify their US investments, which is driving demand for the Australian dollar.

Despite reverses in the Aussie yesterday amid volatility in foreign exchange markets due to Greek debt fears, analysts said fundamentals backed the dollar.

Qatar's sovereign wealth fund is looking recruit 100 roles globally

With the fee pot shrinking, many investment bankers in London will have come to the conclusion that moving to the Middle East isn't a great career move. However, if you still have aspirations to move to the region, you might want to look towards the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

According to various financial headhunters in the Gulf, the QIA has embarked on a relatively aggressive recruitment spree for 2011, and is looking to haul in around 100 people this year.

Qatar in talks to buy stake in Santander's UK arm -paper

(Reuters) - Qatar is in talks about buying a stake in the British arm of Spanish bank Santander prior to or at the time of a planned flotation of the unit, reported the Sunday Times newspaper.

Santander is in detailed discussions with Qatar Holding, part of the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund, among others, about the possibility of such funds becoming cornerstone investors in Santander UK, said the report.

Stanford Receiver Sues Libyan Fund for $55 Million Withdrawn, Lawyer Says

R. Allen Stanford’s court-appointed receiver sued the Libyan government wealth fund for $55 million he claims the state withdrew from Stanford’s alleged Ponzi scheme before it collapsed in early 2009, according to the receiver’s lawyer.

Ralph S. Janvey, Stanford’s receiver, also won a temporary freeze on some Libyan government bank accounts in the U.S. until a federal judge can determine if the money should be distributed to investors allegedly swindled of more than $7 billion, said Janvey’s lead attorney, Kevin M. Sadler.

China sovereign wealth fund to name new CIO-source

HONG KONG/BEIJING, June 17 (Reuters) - A top executive of China's national pension fund is tipped to become chief investment officer of the country's $300 billion sovereign wealth fund, a source said on Friday, part of intense political jockeying ahead of a sweeping reshuffle of the Communist Party's top leadership.

Li Keping, 55 , vice chairman of the $130 billion National Social Security Fund, is likely to succeed Gao Xiqing as chief investment officer of China Investment Corp (CIC) , the source at CIC told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

Norway $570 Billion Oil Fund May Target Private Equity as Adviser Switched

Norway’s $570 billion oil fund may get more leeway to expand into new asset classes such as roads, gas pipelines and unlisted shares as the government switches its top adviser for setting the investor’s guidelines.

Former central bank Governor Svein Gjedrem, 61, this week started as secretary general at the Finance Ministry and chief adviser on investment rules for the oil fund, succeeding 64- year-old Tore Eriksen. The switch allows Gjedrem to revive proposals blocked by the ministry in April to expand the fund’s investments, according to Knut Anton Mork, chief economist at Svenska Handelsbanken AB in Oslo.

BlackRock Hires Keeley to Oversee Sovereign Fund Investors

BlackRock Inc., the world’s biggest money manager, hired Terrence Keeley to head a unit overseeing relations with sovereign funds and central banks as it seeks to double assets with such clients.

Keeley will also help expand the BlackRock Investment Institute, which started earlier this year to provide clients with investment analysis, executives at the New York-based company said today in an interview. Keeley will report to Robert Fairbairn, the head of BlackRock’s client group, and Lee Kempler, executive director of the investment institute.

PPAF eyes Gulf help to alleviate poverty

DUBAI — Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) seeks to attract Gulf corporate sector and sovereign wealth funds to launch more public-private projects to eradicate poverty in the country, its top official has said.

“We are planning to hold road shows and organise meetings with business giants of the Gulf in order to attract them for investing in the poor communities of Pakistan,” Qazi Azmat Isa, Chief Executive Officer, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, told Khaleej Times in an exclusive interview.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund takes No.1 position

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the Government Pension Fund Global, reached nearly 3,100 billion Norwegian kroner (about 574 billion U.S. dollars), making it the world's biggest such fund, Norwegian-language newspaper DN reported on Friday.

It was the first time the fund had been in top spot since it started 15 years ago, the newspaper said, quoting analysis by the U.S. Monitor Group.

SEC Looks At Goldman, Others’ Dealing With Libyan Sovereign Fund

U.S. securities regulators are investigating whether Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other financial firms violated foreign bribery laws when dealing with the Libyan sovereign-wealth fund, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.

Enforcement lawyers at the Securities and Exchange Commission are reviewing documents that detail the companies’ relationships with the Libyan Investment Authority, which is controlled by Moammar Gadhafi, sources told the Journal. Among other things, the SEC is specifically interested in a $50 million fee Goldman initially agreed to pay as part of a proposal set up to help the LIA recoup losses.

Rio Tinto Says $10 Billion Guinea Ore Mine Attracts Sovereign Wealth Funds

Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second- biggest mining company, said its Simandou iron-ore mine project in Guinea has attracted interest from sovereign wealth funds.

The development, a venture with Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., has attracted “strong interest from other sovereign wealth funds and international financiers,” Alan Davies, president of international operations, said in a slide presentation posted on London-based Rio’s website today. The company has spent $1.5 billion at the West African site to-date and production is scheduled to start in 2015, it said.

Joseph Stiglitz on the I.M.F.'s Future

What's the Latest Development?

After being arrested in New York for the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid, the head of the I.M.F., French national Dominique Strauss-Khan, quickly resigned his post. Currently, the world's most powerful sovereign wealth fund is looking for a replacement. Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz thinks the current front runner, Christine Lagarde, France's current economic minister, is a good match for the job: "She has been an outspoken advocate of financial-sector reforms, and has won the respect of all of those with whom she has worked."

RBS Courts Middle East Funds Before Government Sale, Times Says

June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc's Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester is looking to attract sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East ahead of the government's sale of the U.K. bank, the Sunday Times reported.

Hester met with investment funds in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait during a tour of the Gulf last week, according to the newspaper. The bank's CEO wants the government to sell a part of its shareholding worth between 5 billion pounds ($8.2 billion) and 10 billion pounds early next year, the newspaper said, citing people close to the lender it didn't identify.

Sovereign Wealth Funds: political they are, political they stay.

Part 1 covered the origins of the Sovereign Wealth Fund GAPP (Generally Accepted Principles and Practice, also known as “the Santiago Principles”) which was issued in 2009. The opening blog on this theme looked at the pressures on SWFs to present themselves as pure investment vehicles driven by the usual risk returns investment criteria. However, part 1 ended by reaffirming the fact that SWFs are state-owned entities with a mission that can extend well beyond simply generating decent returns.

The Crime of the Century: The theft of the Libyan sovereign funds

The objective of the war in Libya is not just oil, whose reserves (estimated at 60 billion barrels) are the most important in Africa and whose extraction costs are among the lowest in the world. Not so little also, natural gas, whose reserves are estimated at about 1.5 trillion cubic metres. In the crosshairs of "volunteers" of operation "unified protector" are also the sovereign funds, the wealth, the Libyan capital that the state invested abroad.

Goldman Sachs Lost 98% of Libya’s $1.3B Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment

As civil war roars on in Libya and Colonel Muammar Gadhafi vows to remain in power, reports surfaced that the Northern African country entrusted $1.3 billion through its sovereign wealth fund to Goldman Sachs in 2007, of which the investment bank lost approximately 98%, sparking the ire of Libyan officials. The fascinating drama includes Goldman offering Libya preferred equity and debt which could’ve made it one of the investment bank’s largest shareholders during the onset of the crisis, as well as intimidation and violent threats by Libyan officials.