Sovereign Wealth Funds as Shareholders

I have posted to SSRN a preliminary draft of a paper entitled "Sovereigns as Shareholders".  Here is the abstract:

Abstract:     
This paper considers the increasing impact of sovereign wealth funds as equity investors. Sovereign investment has been viewed with suspicion because sovereign wealth funds, as tools of sovereign entities, could be used for political rather than investment purposes. While this risk is considerable, much of the discussion surrounding sovereign investment ignores or minimizes the mitigating effect of a number of regulatory, economic and political factors. This paper argues that continued care, but not additional regulation, is necessary to ensure that U.S. interests are not jeopardized by sovereign investment in U.S. enterprises. However, while the U.S. is able to protect its interests within its markets, other countries may not have the regulatory structure or political power to adequately defend their interests. Additionally, U.S. interests could be harmed by politically-motivated sovereign investment in other countries. As a result, this paper argues in support of efforts to establish a code of conduct for sovereign investment.

Comments are welcome.

Posted by: Paul Rose