February 2008

Korea Investment Corp: Korea joins the sovereign wealth fund adventurers


Korea Investment Corp has broken new ground for the country by investing $2 billion in Merrill Lynch.


More on sovereign wealth funds

In the flurry of east-west role-reversal commentary prompted by Asian and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds buying into Citi and Merrill Lynch, an interesting sub-plot has been missed. What is a Korean state agency doing buying into a Wall Street investment bank?

It is perhaps the strangest contribution of the lot. The Gulf’s sovereign funds have been investing internationally for decades, Singapore’s funds have been shifting their portfolios to a more global mix for almost as long, and even Mizuho’s involvement at Merrill, while interesting, is still simply a cash-rich private sector...


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