(Bloomberg) — Kuwaiti officials are considering changes atop the country’s $1 trillion wealth fund, including potentially replacing its managing director, according to people familiar with the matter.
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As part of the moves being discussed, Ghanem Al-Ghenaiman may leave the Kuwait Investment Authority, the people said, declining to be identified discussing confidential information. The executive was appointed in 2021 for a four-year term.
Officials have considered replacing him with KIA board member Sheikh Saoud Salem Al-Sabah, the people said. Al-Sabah is the son of a former Kuwaiti Central Bank Governor, Sheikh Salem AbdulAziz Al-Sabah, who served for 25 years before resigning in protest over government spending policies at the time.
No final decisions have been made. Representatives for the fund didn’t respond to an e-mail and phone call seeking comment.
With assets of close to $1 trillion, the KIA is among the Middle East’s biggest wealth funds and the world’s fifth-largest, according to data from Global SWF. It plays a key role in helping diversify the country’s economy, and its portfolio includes stakes in ports, airports and power distribution systems around the world.
The biggest state-backed entities in the region have taken on an increasingly important role in global finance over the past few years. They oversee assets of about $4 trillion, and many have been boosting links to Asia as well as betting on new technologies like artificial intelligence.
Any potential changes at the KIA will come days after Qatar named a new chief executive officer for its $510 billion sovereign investor.
More than 50% of the KIA’s investments are in the US, followed by the European Union and the UK, Asia and emerging markets. This year it has largely focused on AI, digital infrastructure, data centers and semiconductors.
The fund’s been beset by challenges in recent years, coinciding with a period of political upheaval in Kuwait. Still, a broad market rally last year drove double-digit returns at the sovereign investor, Bloomberg News has reported.
Like some other funds, KIA doesn’t disclose the value of its assets and officials rarely comment on strategy, portfolio or distribution. Historically, it’s been a leading global investor, with holdings in BlackRock Inc. and Mercedes-Benz Group AG. During the 2008 crisis, it bought a stake in Citigroup Inc and later sold it at a profit of over $1 billion.