Banking, Corporate Finance and M&A, Korea, Sovereign Wealth Funds - Friday, February 1, 2008 20:31 - 0 Comments

What is a Korean state agency doing in Merrill Lynch?

Euromoney magazine, February 2008

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 global 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 cashed-up private sector enterprise taking a tilt at a good valuation opportunity. Continue…

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