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Abu Dhabi and Singapore Strengthen Alliance via SWFs

6th November, 2024

Singapore and Abu Dhabi have seen their relationship grow in recent years, with their respective state-owned investors playing a crucial role in the developing economic partnership between the two countries, which enjoyed a non-oil bilateral trade approaching US$6 billion last year.

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Devouring 2017 Palace Purge Assets: PIF Gains MBC Stake, is Binladin Next?

4th November, 2024

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is taking a majority stake of the Middle East’s biggest broadcaster, which was originally nabbed by the government in the palace purge that was staged exactly seven years ago today.

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Could Ireland’s US$14bn Apple Tax Windfall from ECJ Ruling Scupper SWF Plans?

19th September, 2024

A ruling by the EU’s highest court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), has demanded that tech giant Apple pays the Irish government EUR13 billion (US$14 billion) in back taxes, claiming that it benefitted from an illegal tax break.

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PIF Flexes Saudi's Soft Power Muscles in Egypt

17th September, 2024

Despite persistent economic problems, Egypt is a top investment destination for Gulf sovereign wealth funds that are not only mindful of its long-term potential as an emerging market but also its strategic position in soft power rivalry over the MENA region.

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US Federal SWF Mooted by Biden and Trump Raises More Qs than As

10th September, 2024

Despite being the world’s biggest economy attracting the bulk of sovereign capital, the US lacks a federal-level sovereign wealth fund of its own – but this could all be about the change with rivals in the presidential election pitching their visions of state capitalism.

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Libya's SWF Prepares to Roar Back to Life

8th August, 2024

Libya’s sovereign wealth fund was one of the victims of the collapse of order in the North African state, restricted by sanctions and legal disputes since the fall of Muammar Qaddafi’s regime amid the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and the resulting civil war.

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PIF Stands as a Conduit for Sino-Arabian Ties

17th July, 2024

An agreement by three major Chinese green energy manufacturers to build production plants in Saudi Arabia is the latest episode in a good news story for Sino-Arabian economic relations, but the US's wariness of Saudi reliance on Chinese technological transfer could put Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in a dilemma.

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PIF Forges Bahrain Alliance, While Qatar’s QIA Explores Central Asia

5th March, 2024

Gulf states have tended to use soft power to gain geopolitical influence via economic and cultural relations, particularly in the MENA and Central Asian regions. The cold war within the GCC has subsided with a deal between Doha and a Saudi-led alliance over Qatar’s alleged closeness to the Muslim Brotherhood. Yet, rivalries are still heated and they are vying for regional influence and at a time of heightened geopolitical sensitivities, with this week seeing Saudi Arabia cement its ties with Bahrain via their sovereign funds while Qatar's QIA is deepening its exposure to Uzbekistan.

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Libya’s Sovereign Fund Flexes Its Muscles, Plans Hotel Chain Takeover

13th February, 2024

The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) is flexing its financial muscles as it edged out of a UN sanctions regime with news that it is preparing a hostile takeover of South Africa’s Legacy Hotels via its Libyan African Investment Company (LAICO) subsidiary’s Ensemble Hotel brand.

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Abu Dhabi Gets Serious About CFIUS Risks

12th February, 2024

The decision by Mubadala-backed AI investor G42 to pull out from China reveals a growing wariness about upsetting US regulators, following  Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ (CFIUS) decision last year to put the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund’s takeover of US asset manager Fortress Investment Group under the spotlight.

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Red Sea Conflict Risk to PIF Investments

16th January, 2024

The Red Sea region is at significant risk of conflict escalation amid Houthi attacks on ships and retaliation by the US, UK and their partners in Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect global supply chains - and this puts Gulf sovereign wealth funds' investments in the region at increasing risk as conflict escalates.

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Taiwan Elections: Crucial Crossroads for Geopolitics and Sovereign Investors

12th January, 2024

Taiwan braces for a landmark presidential election tomorrow, January 13, setting the future course for Cross-Strait relations amid escalating US-China tensions and a recovering global economy. This is a high-stakes election for Taiwan, a prosperous territory claimed by China. The election results will have potential repercussions for regional stability and global markets.

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