SWFs lose $57.2bn in listed firms

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have lost nearly half of their investments on paper that they made in listed companies, new research has showed.

At an aggregate level, they invested $125.7 billion (Dh461bn) in listed companies until the end of the first quarter of 2009, losing 46.7 per cent or $57.2bn of their investments due to a decline in share values, the Monitor Group and Feem said in their latest research report.

Analysing the aggregate performance of SWF investments in listed companies, the report said that 24 large investments made in listed companies – those worth at least $1bn – had massive holes in the funds' balance sheets. The report findings showed that 24 transactions were associated with a total apparent loss of $56.3bn, meaning they suffered entirely due to these few large transactions.