Most investment bankers in Dubai’s financial center will tell you their pipeline – the transactions they are working on – is robust and that the Middle East’s post-crisis deal climate is improving. However, data for the first six months of 2014 suggest the regional dealmaker’s optimism is still premature.
The value of Middle Eastern mergers and acquisitions sunk to its lowest level in almost a decade, Dealogic data show. Transactions involving a Mideast buyer or seller fell to $23.6 billion in the first six months of this year to date, down 13% compared to the same period in 2013. Europe, by contrast, saw deal activity rebound in the same period………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The SNP Government’s plan for an oil fund in an independent Scotland is a “complete con”, Ed Davey has insisted. The claim came as the Energy Secretary visits Scotland today to promote the UK Government’s renewable energy plans and announce an additional £50 million to clean up nuclear waste at Dounreay in Caithness.
Last month, John Swinney made clear the Scottish Government could set up a Norwegian-style oil fund from “the point of independence” and secure an “economic bonus”, which could be delivered only by breaking away from the UK. The Scottish Finance Secretary noted that Norway’s oil fund, which began in the mid-1990s “with only modest payments”, was now the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund worth more than £500 billion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s $880 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, will expand its scope of investments to target “frontier markets” and add more currencies to generate higher returns. Frontier markets, also called pre-emerging markets, have equity markets that are less established than in emerging markets.
These include countries such as Nigeria, Argentina, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, according to MSCI Inc. The MSCI Frontier Market Index is up 16 percent this year compared with a 5 percent gain for the MSCI World Index of developed market shares. Nigerian equities made up 20 percent of the MSCI FM index as of June 2014………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Norway’s US$890 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, is building up its organisation and preparing for a move into infrastructure and private equity, its chief executive officer, Yngve Slyngstad, said.
The fund, in a strategy document released on Monday, revealed it was boosting its staff by about 60 per cent over the next three years to tackle increased investments in real estate and said it’s preparing for more investments in assets “with income streams that grow in line with the global economy”………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Alternative investments continue to be winners of new global sovereign allocations, as do emerging markets — despite a fundamental preference for developed markets — according to a new study released Tuesday. Invesco’s second annual Invesco Global Sovereign Asset Management Study examined the investment behavior of sovereign investors across the globe.
The study was conducted among 52 individual sovereign investors, representing $5.7 trillion of assets, including standalone sovereign wealth funds, state pension funds, and central banks and government ministries………………………………………..Full Article: Source