IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/
MyIDEAS: Login to save this paper or follow this series

Sovereign Wealth Funds: Their Investment Strategies and Performance

Author Info

  • Chhaochharia, Vidhi
  • Laeven, Luc

Abstract

Sovereign wealth funds have emerged as an important investor of global equity, attracting growing attention. Despite concerns that sovereign wealth fund investments may serve political objectives and be in conflict with national interests, little is known about the investment objectives and performance of sovereign wealth funds. We collect new data on foreign equity investments by sovereign wealth funds. We find that sovereign wealth funds largely invest to diversify away from industries at home but that they do so predominantly in countries that share the same culture, suggesting their investment rules are not entirely driven by profit maximizing objectives. Share prices of firms respond favorably when sovereign investment funds acquire stakes, in part because these investments often take place when firms are in financial distress. However, the long-run performance of equity investments by sovereign wealth funds tends to be poor, consistent with imperfect portfolio diversification and poor corporate governance.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=6959
Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 6959.

as
in new window

Length:
Date of creation: Sep 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6959
Contact details of provider: Postal: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 77 Bastwick Street, London EC1V 3PZ.
Phone: 44 - 20 - 7183 8801
Fax: 44 - 20 - 7183 8820

Order Information: Email:


Keywords: Asset allocation; Corporate governance; Sovereign wealth funds;

Find related papers by JEL classification:

  • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

as in new window
  1. Paul A. Gompers & Andrew Metrick, 2001. "Institutional Investors And Equity Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 116(1), pages 229-259, February.
  2. Maurice Obstfeld, 1992. "Risk-taking, global diversification, and growth," Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics 61, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
  3. Harvey, Campbell R, 1995. "Predictable Risk and Returns in Emerging Markets," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 8(3), pages 773-816.
  4. Henderson, Brian J. & Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Weisbach, Michael S., 2006. "World markets for raising new capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 63-101, October.
  5. Vidhi Chhaochharia & Yaniv Grinstein, 2007. "Corporate Governance and Firm Value: The Impact of the 2002 Governance Rules," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1789-1825, 08.
  6. Gozzi, Juan Carlos & Levine, Ross & Schmukler, Sergio L., 2008. "Patterns of international capital raisings," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4687, The World Bank.
  7. Doidge, Craig & Karolyi, G. Andrew & Stulz, Rene M., 2004. "Why Do Countries Matter So Much for Corporate Governance?," Working Paper Series 2004-16, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
  8. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1998. "Law and Finance," Scholarly Articles 3451310, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  9. Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Malatesta, Paul H. & Walkling, Ralph A., 1996. "Corporate governance and shareholder initiatives: Empirical evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 365-395, November.
  10. Nittai K. Bergman & Dirk Jenter, 2005. "Employee Sentiment and Stock Option Compensation," NBER Working Papers 11409, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  11. Li, Kai, 2004. "Confidence in the Familiar: An International Perspective," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(01), pages 47-68, March.
  12. Giannetti, Mariassunta & Laeven, Luc, 2007. "Pension Reform, Ownership Structure, and Corporate Governance: Evidence from Sweden," CEPR Discussion Papers 6489, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  13. Baxter, Marianne & Jermann, Urban J, 1997. "The International Diversification Puzzle Is Worse Than You Think," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(1), pages 170-80, March.
  14. Hyuk Choe & Bong-Chan Kho & Rene M. Stulz, 2004. "Do Domestic Investors Have an Edge? The Trading Experience of Foreign Investors in Korea," NBER Working Papers 10502, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  15. Kim, Woojin & Weisbach, Michael S., 2008. "Motivations for public equity offers: An international perspective," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 281-307, February.
  16. Edwin M. Truman, 2007. "Sovereign Wealth Funds: The Need for Greater Transparency and Accountability," Policy Briefs PB07-6, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
  17. Vihang Errunza & Ked Hogan & Mao-Wei Hung, 1999. "Can the Gains from International Diversification Be Achieved without Trading Abroad?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2075-2107, December.
  18. Richard Portes & Helene Rey, 2000. "The determinants of cross-border equity flows," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20203, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  19. Stulz, Rene M, 1981. "On the Effects of Barriers to International Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 36(4), pages 923-34, September.
  20. Craig Doidge & G. Andrew Karolyi & Rene M. Stulz, 2001. "Why are Foreign Firms Listed in the U.S. Worth More?," NBER Working Papers 8538, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  21. Grinblatt, Mark & Keloharju, Matti, 2000. "The investment behavior and performance of various investor types: a study of Finland's unique data set," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 43-67, January.
  22. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1986. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 461-88, June.
  23. Mariassunta Giannetti & Luc Laeven, 2009. "Pension Reform, Ownership Structure, and Corporate Governance: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(10), pages 4091-4127, October.
  24. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 1999. "Home Bias at Home: Local Equity Preference in Domestic Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2045-2073, December.
  25. Owen Lamont & Christopher Polk & Jesus Saa-Requejo, . "Financial Constraints and Stock Returns."," CRSP working papers 451, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
  26. Stulz, Rene M. & Williamson, Rohan, 2003. "Culture, openness, and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 313-349, December.
  27. Guercio, Diane Del & Hawkins, Jennifer, 1999. "The motivation and impact of pension fund activism," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 293-340, June.
  28. Huberman, Gur, 2001. "Familiarity Breeds Investment," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 659-80.
  29. Ferreira, Miguel A. & Matos, Pedro, 2008. "The colors of investors' money: The role of institutional investors around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 499-533, June.
  30. Hotchkiss, Edith S. & Mooradian, Robert M., 1997. "Vulture investors and the market for control of distressed firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 401-432, March.
  31. Patrick F. Rowland & Linda L. Tesar, 1998. "Multinationals and the Gains from International Diversification," NBER Working Papers 6733, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  32. Gillan, Stuart L. & Starks, Laura T., 2000. "Corporate governance proposals and shareholder activism: the role of institutional investors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 275-305, August.
  33. Rafael La porta & Florencio Lopez-De-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, 2002. "Investor Protection and Corporate Valuation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(3), pages 1147-1170, 06.
  34. Luc Laeven & Ross Levine, 2007. "Complex Ownership Structures and Corporate Valuations," IMF Working Papers 07/140, International Monetary Fund.
  35. Kalok Chan & Vicentiu Covrig & Lilian Ng, 2005. "What Determines the Domestic Bias and Foreign Bias? Evidence from Mutual Fund Equity Allocations Worldwide," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1495-1534, 06.
  36. Lewis, Karen K, 1996. "What Can Explain the Apparent Lack of International Consumption Risk Sharing?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(2), pages 267-97, April.
  37. French, Kenneth R & Poterba, James M, 1991. "Investor Diversification and International Equity Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 222-26, May.
  38. Wahal, Sunil, 1996. "Pension Fund Activism and Firm Performance," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(01), pages 1-23, March.
  39. Black, Fischer, 1974. "International capital market equilibrium with investment barriers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(4), pages 337-352, December.
  40. Chen, Xia & Harford, Jarrad & Li, Kai, 2007. "Monitoring: Which institutions matter?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 279-305, November.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.

as in new window


Cited by:

  1. Christopher Balding, 2009. "Qui a peur des fonds souverains ?," Revue d'Économie Financière, Programme National Persée, vol. 9(1), pages 215-227.
  2. Torfinn Harding & Frederick Van der Ploeg, 2009. "Is Norway's Bird-in-Hand Stabilization Fund Prudent Enough? Fiscal Reactions to Hydrocarbon Windfalls and Graying Populations," CESifo Working Paper Series 2830, CESifo Group Munich.
  3. Gabriel Enrique Alberola & José María Serena, 2009. "Sovereign external assets and the resilience of global imbalances," Banco de Espa�a Working Papers 0834, Banco de Espa�a.
  4. Buetzer, Sascha & Habib, Maurizio Michael & Stracca, Livio, 2012. "Global exchange rate configurations: Do oil shocks matter?," Working Paper Series 1442, European Central Bank.
  5. Christopher Balding, 2009. "Who's Afraid of Sovereign Wealth Funds ?," Revue d'Économie Financière, Programme National Persée, vol. 9(1), pages 201-210.
  6. Sun, Jiayi & Demmler, Michael, 2009. "Sovereign Wealth Funds: Ein Branchenüberblick," Bayreuth Working Papers on Finance, Accounting and Taxation (FAcT-Papers) 2009-02, University of Bayreuth, Chair of Finance and Banking.

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Access and download statistics

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6959. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ()

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis using RePEc data.