Soveriegn Wealth Funds..

Streetjunkie recently attended a conference in manhattan on Sovereign Wealth Fund and had a lot of doubts on its potential success(where success is a relative term but you know what I mean). Its interesting how over the past few days swfs have gained prominence injecting cash to the cash-strapped US economy.

Last month the Saudi Kingdom announced the establishment of a $900 billion dollar swf(by Public Investment Fund).

Many in the region believe that establishment of such Future Generation Funds is a big step that might be beneficial to the local economy.But at times you are bound to wonder whether the buying spree is actually pitted towards strategic investing.

In other words , the age-old question repeats - does brand name investment guarantee success? It did in the 90s when Kingdom Holdings made their foray into Citigroup..but luck hasnt exactly been on their side for quite some time now -Citi i.e

The Singapore Government's financial arm, Temasek Holdings on the other hand has been making such investments in Asia and the far east in the not necessarily so famous markets.For example its accquisition of Shin Corp.

It remains to be seen over the next few years on whether the government's bets fall through or as streetjunkie put it to me 'its all a fad!".