Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment in the U.S. – An Update

Together with my colleagues Adam Emmerich and Sabastian V. Niles, I have issued a memorandum entitled “Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment in the U.S. – Six Months Later,” which discusses the surprising slowdown in SWF Activity in the U.S. since the end of 2007 and into the opening weeks of 2008 when investment activity by these funds reached new heights. Our memorandum discusses some of the reasons for the slowdown, highlighting the possibility that the uncertain political receptivity to SWF investments and heightened regulatory activity has chilled SWF interest in the U.S. by increasing the costs and risks of investment. The memorandum concludes by calling for continued SWF activity in order to develop a track record of successful investments that will help cause political concerns to recede and by identifying the critical issues for those SWF transactions that get to the negotiation phase.

The memorandum is available here.