SPREADING THE WEALTH

Sovereign wealth funds are on a multi-billion pound shopping spree. Mark Leftly profiles the men and women snapping up Western assets

FIVE years ago, Roman Abramovich’s purchase of Chelsea Football Club cemented the rise of the Russian oligarch in the British consciousness. The attempt by Dubai International Capital (DIC) to take control of Liverpool, a Premiership rival, could yet do the same for sovereign wealth funds, those giant investment vehicles entrusted with their government’s financial assets.

Tom Hicks, one of Liverpool’s two American owners, insists he only talked to DIC about it taking a 10%-15% stake in the club. But DIC has deep enough pockets – an estimated $6bn (£3bn, e4.1bn) – to keep gunning for Liverpool; and plenty of other businesses would welcome its investment. Travelodge, a British hotel group, was snapped up by DIC for £675m in 2006; it is now planning to spend e1bn on 100 new sites in Spain alone. Yet DIC is only the 19th biggest sovereign wealth fund – it is at least 100 times smaller than the world leader, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

More articles from: this section

Print this article   |   Email to a friend   |   Permalink   |   Comment

Post this entry to:   del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Advertisement

Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine

Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms

Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP

All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved