Libya launches $40bn SWF

Another sign how much the world has changed. Who could have thought of quotes like this just a few years ago...

Einmal mehr ein Beispiel wie sehr sich die Welt in den letzten Jahren gewandelt hat. Oder wer hätte ernsthaft an ein solches Zitat vor ein paar Jahren glauben mögen.....

“If you wanted to invest in the past, no one would take your calls. Now bankers fly on their private jets to see us,” said Mr Layas, a former chairman of the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank. ..

Maybe there is still hope for others parts of the world.....

Evtl. besteht ja doch noch Hoffnung für Teile der Welt .....

Libya starts to deploy $40bn fund / FT

A newly established Libyan sovereign wealth fund is starting to deploy its $40bn (£19bn, €28bn) capital on international markets as the oil-rich state showcases its rehabilitation in the global community.

Following in the footsteps of the Gulf countries, the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi earlier this year allocated tens of billions of dollars that had been managed by the central bank to a new entity, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), which will now also receive a portion of the surplus oil revenues each year.

Although the ramshackle Libyan economy is in need of massive investment after decades of isolation, the government’s stated strategy is to reduce the country’s oil dependence and diversify sources of income.


“Because of sanctions our policy used to be to protect our assets and keep our funds in short-term deposits,” said Mohamed Layas, the LIA’s executive director, in an interview with the Financial Times. “After the embargo was lifted, it was a new era, a new opening, and we had a tremendous increase in oil revenues over the last five years.”

Mr Layas said the fund, which will have offices in London and Tripoli, would concentrate at first on portfolio investments managed through western banks and institutions. But it also intends to buy real estate worldwide and, when it is more established, look at private equity transactions.

“If we buy shares in a construction company abroad, for example, the other benefit is that we will generate business for them in Libya, where we have a huge development plan,” he said.

Although not its primary target, the LIA is also considering investing in hydrocarbon development projects. It was a small partner in the $900m exploration contract BP signed with Tripoli in May. Still largely under-explored, Libya is hoping to increase its oil production from 1.7m to 3m barrels per day by 2015. Its oil revenues are expected to reach $15bn this year.

The LIA has set up a $2bn investment fund with its counterpart in Qatar to invest in Libya, Qatar and western markets. It has taken on three existing entities: the $5bn Libyan African investment portfolio; Lafico, a $3bn assets investment company mainly involved in real estate; and an $8bn existing portfolio of other international investments, largely in capital markets.

The creation of the LIA highlights the transformation of Tripoli from pariah state to international partner since its decision in 1999 to hand over suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing in Scotland, and later to renounce its weapons of mass destruction.

On Tuesday, Tripoli secured a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council – the body that lifted sanctions against it in 2003.