• Coaching For Boomers

    Coaching For

  • Fuelled by oil wealth, rapid growth and property boom, the population growth of high net worth individuals in the middle east was higher than other regions growing 15.6% compared to global rates of 6% in 2007 (ML) - meaning that the region has lured private banking operations. Private wealth invested abroad may be around $1.5 (IMF) Wealthy citizens especially those in ruling elites have long made major foreign purchases
  • Much of this ‘private wealth’ is likely represented by the personal funds of GCC rulers and their families. The line between public funds (of the state) and the private funds of the ruling elites has long been blurred in the gulf, with even many quasi-private companies are tied to the state.
  • investment strategies may be similar across a range of public and private investment funds have been similar, with many managed like a family office and funds invested in a diversified group of assets, mainly in equities, and an increasing exposure to alternative assets. Though private investors are thought to have more exposure to local property markets than the sovereign wealth funds.Private investors may have suffered major losses in recent collapse in equity prices. Eg Prince Al Waleed’s kingdom holding, which gained prominence after buying shares in Citigroup in 1991,  has lost 63% or $13b, the holding company has stakes in 15 publicly traded non-Gulf companies. Only four have outperformed their national benchmark this year
  • However other investment vehicles managing the private wealth of rulers gained prominence recently - eg the Emir of Qatar and Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi in Barclays. Sheikh Hamad Qatar previously took a stake in the Icelandic bank Kaupthing.  Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai has a series of investment vehicles including DIC, and Dubai Group whose initial capital base came from proceeds of dubai properties but are now invested abroad.
  • Saudi Arabia has long been thought to have the largest  share of its wealth “privatized”. It unlike its neighbors in the Emirates and Kuwait, entrusts much of the public savings to the central bank (SAMA) not a dedicated investment fund. SAMA now manages almost $450 billion and another $67 billion on behalf of other Saudi government institutions. Private individuals including members of the royal family might have much larger sums
  • About 2/3 of the GCC’s wealth was managed by government investment funds in 2006, with 1/3 in private hands - perhaps as much as$600 billion (more than half of which is in Saudi Arabia(Mckinsey) Though growth of assets in the Emirates may have outstripped Saudi Arabia in recent year - some of it debt financed
  • Saudi private wealth invested abroad may be as high as SR 4.69tn ($ 1.25tn), of which SR 1.58tn($ 420bn) is estimated to be invested in the US