Since the beginning of the economic downturn, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have gone from almost complete obscurity to star status as an investment class IROs are discussing with increasingly keen interest.
One reason for the fascination is the sheer magnitude of assets these funds command. A March 2013 report from TheCityUK states that SWF assets rose for a fourth year to $5.2 tn in 2012, with further growth of 8 percent expected in 2013. To put these numbers into perspective, SWFs have larger total assets under management than those of all the world’s hedge funds put together, but far less than the aggregate of all traditional asset managers.
