FEEM-Monitor SWF Report Q2-2009
07.10.2009
During the second quarter of 2009, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) made 11 investments with a total value of $3.5 billion: the lowest expenditure of any quarter since the last of 2004. The SWF transaction data for Q2 2009 appear to suggest continuing caution being exercised by funds in their investments. Only 11 transactions were completed in Q2, but another 19 were announced or pending, suggesting an upswing in SWF activity during the second quarter, which would be realized at a later date. Thus the Q2 investment data appears to be a consequence of a period of near hibernation at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009, rather than a continuing withdrawal from the global market. The geographical and sectoral spread of SWFs’ completed Q2 investments also suggest that, as we proposed in the Q1 2009 update, SWFs are cautiously returning to the market with a long-term approach to their investments, putting their losses behind them and resuming the business of investing abroad. Only two investments were made by funds in domestic markets in Q2, and over half were in the OECD.