Research
Sovereign wealth funds have grown to $15.1 trillion across 109 funds and are now unambiguously dual-purpose instruments — simultaneously portfolio investors and tools of state strategy — with Gulf funds alone accounting for 61% of 2024 investment volume and non-Western funds routinely embedding sovereignty clauses (veto rights, tech-transfer mandates, data residency requirements) directly into deal structures in ways Western regulatory frameworks largely fail to recognize. The central unresolved tension is whether existing governance tools — voluntary Santiago Principles, CFIUS-style screening, competition law — are adequate to manage this duality, or whether the opacity of mandates, the blurring of commercial and strategic motives, and the absence of enforcement mechanisms require more intrusive oversight; empirical evidence cuts both ways, with SWF investments showing short-term stabilizing effects on target firms while long-run performance weakens and distributional consequences for workers and host communities remain almost entirely unmeasured. Readers focused on regulatory design or geopolitical risk should read in full; those seeking settled empirical ground on market stability will find it, but the harder questions — who bears the costs of SWF ownership, and whether current frameworks can distinguish development finance from strategic control — remain genuinely open.
This Insight examines the key legal and regulatory issues raised by SWF investments in data centers, with a focus on foreign investment review, ...
The Trump administration has been seeking ways to increase US market share in semiconductor manufacturing, and Intel remains the best hope for ...
SWFs are often perceived by the public and the media as instruments to extend the power of their state owners on an international stage
The Santiago Principles are the globally accepted standards for governance, investment and risk management practices for sovereign wealth funds.
by US Das · Cited by 15 — These issues encompassed the manner of funding and growth of SWFs, the purposes underlying SWF investments and their governance and transparency, discriminatory ...
CFIUS retains the authority to review a transaction to assess whether it has jurisdiction over the investment. This calls for a detailed ...
The new FDI Screening Regulation requires all EU Member States to set up a national screening mechanism with minimum common standards for inbound foreign direct ...
This report provides guidance on how governments can support their sovereign wealth funds in becoming climate-aligned commercial investors.
In 2024, MENA SWFs invested a total of US$33.6b to strengthen their ties with the APAC region, marking a more than twice the increase in capital deployed ...
DP World had agreed to an additional 45-day investigation of its controversial purchase of P&O. This development helped calm the political haranguing
GlobalFoundries (GF) is one of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers and the only one with a truly global footprint. GF delivers feature-rich ...
by T Sun · Cited by 85 — This initial evidence supports the view that SWFs could have a volatility-reducing impact on markets.
The legal terrain surrounding SWFs resembles a maze, with their classification and interaction with customary international law (CIL) sparking fervent debate.
This paper examines how a US SWF might function as a tool for enhancing diplomatic relations, supporting geopolitical goals, and influencing global markets.
On the one hand, the SWF group is seen as homogenous, requiring uniform standards and benchmarks. On the other hand, when compared with.
African SWFs with an infrastructure development strategy. Oman, Abu Dhabi and Dubai are eying direct investments in African ports and other infrastructure via ...
The five funds are the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the Emirates' Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), ...
UNCTAD identified 28 jurisdictions. UNCTAD identified at least twenty instances of planned foreign takeovers with a value exceeding $50 million that failed for ...
Sovereign wealth funds represent a large and growing pool of savings. An increasing number of these funds are owned by natural resource–exporting countries ...
Between July 2024 and December 2025, Spain recorded 18 direct transactions with a combined value of €6.7 billion — equivalent to $7.6 billion.
to grow more rapidly than labor incomes, the social dividend provided by a progressive SWF would generate a lasting reduction of poverty and inequality. ... In such a model, the kind of Ricardian equivalence described above does not hold and the SWF turns out to increase the expected lifetime utilit...
Sign up to read the full research briefing
Sign up