SWF's no tool of fiscal policy

Ka-ching! IPIC scored big for Team Abu Dhabi this week when it sold part of its stake in Barclays, the British bank.

Readers may recall that at the height of the financial crisis last October, Barclays raised £7 billion (Dh42.55bn) in an effort to stay afloat without taking money from the British government, and with it all the strings that would have been attached.
Instead, it ended up with two other government shareholders, Qatar (whose Qatar Investment Authority already held Barclays stock) and Abu Dhabi, through IPIC, otherwise the International Petroleum Investment Company.

The deal gave Abu Dhabi a roughly 16 per cent stake in the bank, and sent Barclays’ other shareholders into paroxysms over a deal they complained had been made behind their backs.