Middle East sovereign wealth funds to increase allocations to alternatives

Sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East are set to increase their allocations to hedge funds and other alternative investments.  So says an article published recently on efinancialnews.com, following a roundtable held last month in the Gulf.

Bhisham Manraj from Bank of America Merrill Lynch suggests that regional SWFs’ “need for diversification, increased yield in the current low interest rate environment, increasing sophistication – and the fact that they are uniquely placed to deploy long term capital – makes them well placed to continue and increase their investment programs in infrastructure, private equity, hedge funds and real estate”.

Other roundtable participants supported Manraj’s views; Uwe Eberle, head of Van Eck Global in Switzerland, said: “Recent discussions in the Gulf region have confirmed that [investors in] the region [are] looking for more diversification. If you can deliver [outperformance] or absolute return with strong risk management, investors now express significantly higher interest than in the past. I believe the alternative investment industry has a significant upside in the region.”

When Mark Mobius was in town recently for the Hedge Funds World Middle East conference, we quizzed him for his views on the outlook for Middle East investor allocations to alternatives.

You can watch his response, as well as responses from Mishal Kanoo and John Taylor Jnr, by checking out our recent blog post Will Middle East investors increase allocations to alternatives? Mark Mobius says yes…