Selling Out at the Top

This all sounds like an excellent idea to me I must say:

For better or worse, big chunks of the Western financial system are falling like ripe fruit into the laps of petrodollar sheikdoms and well-heeled Asian governments.

Last month, Abu Dhabi's giant fund Adia ($875bn) rescued Citibank with a $7.5bn equity infusion, taking advantage of the US mortgage crisis to scoop up 4.9pc of the world's top bank for a pittance.
....
Now Singapore's GIC fund ($100bn) has provided a $9bn comfort blanket for Switzerland's UBS,
...
The role model is Temasek ($160bn) - Singapore's other fund - which took an 11.5pc stake in Standard Chartered in March 2006 and has since been adding strategically on each share price dip to a current holding of 17.2pc.

I don't know about you but I tend to think that this is all going to get worse before it gets better. Selling of chunks of stock that are going to be worth 50% of current prices in a few months time looks like a very good idea to me. That they're going to sovereign funds just means that it's Johnny Foreigner and his taxpayers that are going to take the hit rather than ourselves: that actually makes it better to my mind.

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