MSN MoneyCentral- Arab investors, flush with liquidity, are considering investments in distressed US financial assets as they try to turn the turmoil in credit markets into a regional opportunity.
Omar bin Sulaiman, governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre, said investment houses were now looking at the US and asking whether the bottom of the market had been reached.
He told the Financial Times on Monday that the more sophisticated investors were likely to look beyond bank stocks, buying distressed debt instruments either directly or through hedge funds.
His comments were made as some international bankers have recently been courting investors in the Gulf, a region seeing an unprecedented oil-fuelled boom, in hopes of finding new buyers for distressed assets created by the credit turmoil.
But Mr bin Sulaiman also warned that any attempt to suck new Gulf buyers into US markets could be damaged by its attitude towards sovereign wealth funds, which have faced a political backlash driven by concerns over transparency and fears that the government funds could turn their financial power into political leverage.
