If you have one hundred dollars to spare, where would you invest them? Certainly, this is a bizarre question to ask Davos clientele, but I thought it would help me separate simple ideas from complicated facts. So, with a heart of steel I went roaming with this question, which, surprisingly, provided a million-dollar insight.
The first to answer my question was Marwan Boodai, the man behind Kuwait-based Jazeera Airlines. Mr. Boodai would invest $99.90 in the United States, allocating all other investments a mere 10 cents! This, I have to say, is in line with the general mood of Davos about the slow re-awakening of the American giant, which some say will partly help in shielding the avalanche expected in Europe.
The first to answer my question was Marwan Boodai, the man behind Kuwait-based Jazeera Airlines. Mr. Boodai would invest $99.90 in the United States, allocating all other investments a mere 10 cents! This, I have to say, is in line with the general mood of Davos about the slow re-awakening of the American giant, which some say will partly help in shielding the avalanche expected in Europe.
But still, 99 percent fund allocation to the U.S. made me wonder whether the reason was the opportunities in the States, or the lack of them elsewhere. According to Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, CEO of Mashreq Bank in Dubai, the latter assumption is certainly not true. The man behind one of the biggest banks in the UAE would put his $100 dollars in the GCC equity markets. Having noticed the shock on my face, he explained his rationale behind the strategy. According to Al Ghurair, two to three years back people were happy to pay three to four times the book value of GCC stocks, so right now, when many of these shares are trading below their respective book value, why on earth wouldn’t we scoop them up, knowing that many of the companies behind these stocks have been around for 30 or 40 years.
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