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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n