For decades, the Kuwait Investment Authority kept a low profile as it garnered a reputation as one of the oil-rich Gulf’s most powerful and respected sovereign wealth funds.
But last week, the KIA abruptly sacked Saleh al-Ateeqi, the head of its London investment arm, the Kuwait Investment Office, dragging the secretive fund into the spotlight.
Founded in 1953, the KIA is one of the Gulf state’s most influential institutions and guardian of Kuwait’s wealth for a post-oil future. With an estimated $700bn or more in assets, under half of which are managed out of London, the fund has investments across the globe, from stakes in asset managers such as BlackRock to critical infrastructure such as the UK’s Associated British Ports. In 2008, as western markets plunged in value during the great financial crisis, it also snapped up shares in Wall Street banks Citigroup and Merrill Lynch.
But with stock markets in turmoil once again, the departure of Ateeqi has exposed the challenges the fund faces as it grapples with internal disputes sparked by attempts to modernise, according to more than a dozen current and former staff interviewed by the Financial Times.
The fund has not explained its decision to fire Ateeqi, which capped a four-year period in which the KIO became embroiled in a string of legal battles with former staff, internal investigations and rising tensions between the London office and leadership in Kuwait.
