The FCPA seems to be most closely associated with shady oil operations, mining, defense contractors and infrastructure transactions. The image is a big company coming in and bribing an official for access to the country’s resources. The other side to that investment is that the countries build up big supplies of capital. Many deploy some … Read more »
Tag: Sovereign Wealth Funds
Special Report on Sovereign Wealth Funds
Pensions & Investments published a Special Report on Sovereign Wealth Funds. The report is based on a survey conducted in April by the Oxford University Center for Employment, Work and Finance: Oxford SWF Project. Sovereign wealth funds are perceived to be shrouded in mystery because, like many private investment funds, they do not publicly report … Read more »
GAO Report on Sovereign Wealth Funds
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has released its second report on Sovereign Wealth Funds: Laws Limiting Foreign Investment Affect Certain U.S. Assets and Agencies Have Various Enforcement Processes (.pdf). This report was sent to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in the U.S. Senate. The Report found the United States is generally open … Read more »
Is CalPERS a Sovereign Wealth Fund?
Ashby H. B. Monk wrote Is CalPERS a Sovereign Wealth Fund? (He ends up saying no.) Sovereign Wealth Funds have come under increased scrutiny with countries concerned that an investment by a SWF could be used as a political tool and not a mere investment. The underlying concern is that many of the SWFs come … Read more »
Sovereign Wealth Funds That Are Part of the IWG and Santiago Principles
The following sovereign wealth funds are part of the Internal Working Group of Soverign Wealth Funds and the Santiago Principles: Australia The Future Fund Azerbaijan State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan Botswana Pula Fund Canada Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund Chile Economic and Social Stabilization Fund / Pension Reserve Fund China China Investment … Read more »
The Santiago Principles
The International Working Group of Sovereign Wealth Funds created a set of 24 best practices called the Generally Accepted Principles and Practices (GAPP) or the Santiago Principles: GAPP 1. Principle The legal framework for the SWF should be sound and support its effective operation and the achievement of its stated objective(s). GAPP 1.1 Subprinciple The … Read more »
Sovereign Wealth Funds Adopt Voluntary Best Practices
Adam O. Emmerich of Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz put together a summary published on The Harvard Law School Corporate Governance Blog on the Santiago Principles and the potential impact of these on investments by sovereign wealth funds: Sovereign Wealth Funds Adopt Voluntary Best Practices. Intended to demonstrate that SWFs are soundly established and that … Read more »
Are Sovereign Wealth Funds State-Owned Enterprises?
Steve Tyrrell, Chief of the Fraud Section in DOJ’s Criminal Division, has observed that the DOJ may treat employees of sovereign wealth funds as government officials for purposes of the FCPA Sovereign wealth funds have been playing a larger role in the domestic securities markets as companies search for increasingly scarce supplies of capital. Mr. … Read more »
Who Is a Foreign Official After the Government Bailout of Financial Instiutions?
We have all read about the bailout of US financial institutions by the US government. This is not happening in other countries. This complicates the analysis under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. As Joel M. Cohen, Michael P. Holland, and Adam P. Wolf of Clifford Chance examined in Under the FCPA, Who Is a Foreign … Read more »