IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/quaeco/v70y2018icp62-76.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rationality or politics? The color of black gold money

Author

Listed:
  • Arouri, Mohamed
  • Boubaker, Sabri
  • Grais, Wafik
  • Grira, Jocelyn

Abstract

The present study investigates the determinants of Arab sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) investment decisions. Using a sample of 223 listed firms targeted by SWFs over the 2000–2014 period (among which 73 are targeted by SWFs owned by Arab countries), we find that, in comparison to non-Arab SWFs, Arab SWFs prefer larger firms operating in strategic industries based in countries with higher levels of economic and capital market development, political stability, significant degree of confidence in rules and low degree of corruption. Moreover, Arab SWFs do not seem to have a tendency to invest in firms with higher liquidity, profitability, growth or dividend payout. Taken together, results based on the sample suggest that Arab SWFs’ acquisitions may not be solely motivated by purely financial considerations.

Suggested Citation

  • Arouri, Mohamed & Boubaker, Sabri & Grais, Wafik & Grira, Jocelyn, 2018. "Rationality or politics? The color of black gold money," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 62-76.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:70:y:2018:i:c:p:62-76
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2018.05.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062976917301588
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.qref.2018.05.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Murtinu, Samuele & Scalera, Vittoria G., 2016. "Sovereign Wealth Funds' Internationalization Strategies: The Use of Investment Vehicles," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 249-264.
    2. Utpal Bhattacharya & Hazem Daouk, 2002. "The World Price of Insider Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 75-108, February.
    3. Shai Bernstein & Josh Lerner & Antoinette Schoar, 2013. "The Investment Strategies of Sovereign Wealth Funds," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(2), pages 219-238, Spring.
    4. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "Trusting the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2557-2600, December.
    5. Simeon Djankov & Peter Murrell, 2002. "Enterprise Restructuring in Transition: A Quantitative Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(3), pages 739-792, September.
    6. Belkhir, Mohamed & Boubakri, Narjess & Grira, Jocelyn, 2017. "Political risk and the cost of capital in the MENA region," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 155-172.
    7. Abhijit V. Banerjee, 1997. "A Theory of Misgovernance," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1289-1332.
    8. van den Bremer, Ton & van der Ploeg, Frederick & Wills, Samuel, 2016. "The Elephant In The Ground: Managing Oil And Sovereign Wealth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 113-131.
    9. Rolando Avendaño & Javier Santiso, 2010. "Are Sovereign Wealth Funds' Investments Politically Biased?: A Comparison with Mutual Funds," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 283, OECD Publishing.
    10. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    11. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-279, April.
    12. Stulz, Rene M. & Williamson, Rohan, 2003. "Culture, openness, and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 313-349, December.
    13. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1997. "Industry costs of equity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 153-193, February.
    14. Nuno Fernandes, 2014. "The Impact of Sovereign Wealth Funds on Corporate Value and Performance," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 26(1), pages 76-84, March.
    15. Dewenter, Kathryn L. & Han, Xi & Malatesta, Paul H., 2010. "Firm values and sovereign wealth fund investments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 256-278, November.
    16. Knill, April & Lee, Bong-Soo & Mauck, Nathan, 2012. "Bilateral political relations and sovereign wealth fund investment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 108-123.
    17. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    18. Hilary, Gilles & Hui, Kai Wai, 2009. "Does religion matter in corporate decision making in America?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 455-473, September.
    19. Huberman, Gur, 2001. "Familiarity Breeds Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 659-680.
    20. Adrian Blundell-Wignall & Yu-Wei Hu & Juan Yermo, 2008. "Sovereign Wealth and Pension Fund Issues," OECD Working Papers on Insurance and Private Pensions 14, OECD Publishing.
    21. Alexander Dyck & Adair Morse, 2011. "Sovereign Wealth Fund Portfolios," Working Papers 2011-003, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    22. Bertoni, Fabio & Lugo, Stefano, 2014. "The effect of sovereign wealth funds on the credit risk of their portfolio companies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 21-35.
    23. William L. Megginson & Miao You & Liyan Han, 2013. "Determinants of Sovereign Wealth Fund Cross-Border Investments," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 48(4), pages 539-572, November.
    24. Rafael La Porta & Florencio López-de-Silanes, 1999. "The Benefits of Privatization: Evidence from Mexico," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(4), pages 1193-1242.
    25. William L. Megginson & Veljko Fotak, 2015. "Rise Of The Fiduciary State: A Survey Of Sovereign Wealth Fund Research," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 733-778, September.
    26. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2009. "Cultural Biases in Economic Exchange?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(3), pages 1095-1131.
    27. Valeria Miceli, 2013. "Do sovereign wealth funds herd in equity markets?," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(10), pages 1503-1518, October.
    28. Boubakri, Narjess & Cosset, Jean-Claude & Grira, Jocelyn, 2016. "Sovereign wealth funds targets selection: A comparison with pension funds," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 60-76.
    29. Andy C.W. Chui & Sheridan Titman & K.C. John Wei, 2010. "Individualism and Momentum around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(1), pages 361-392, February.
    30. Adrian Blundell-Wignall & Yu-Wei Hu & Juan Yermo, 2008. "Sovereign wealth & pension fund issues," OECD Journal: Financial Market Trends, OECD Publishing, vol. 2008(1), pages 117-132.
    31. Karolyi, G. Andrew, 2016. "The gravity of culture for finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 610-625.
    32. Mark Grinblatt & Matti Keloharju, 2001. "How Distance, Language, and Culture Influence Stockholdings and Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 1053-1073, June.
    33. Boubakri, Narjess & Cosset, Jean-Claude & Grira, Jocelyn, 2017. "Sovereign wealth funds investment effects on target firms' competitors," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 96-112.
    34. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Mastruzzi, Massimo, 2010. "The worldwide governance indicators : methodology and analytical issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5430, The World Bank.
    35. Knill, April M. & Lee, Bong Soo & Mauck, Nathan, 2012. "Sovereign wealth fund investment and the return-to-risk performance of target firms," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 315-340.
    36. Eun, Cheol S. & Wang, Lingling & Xiao, Steven C., 2015. "Culture and R2," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 283-303.
    37. Bernardo Bortolotti & Veljko Fotak & William L. Megginson, 2015. "Editor's Choice The Sovereign Wealth Fund Discount: Evidence from Public Equity Investments," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(11), pages 2993-3035.
    38. Sofia A Johan & April Knill & Nathan Mauck, 2013. "Determinants of sovereign wealth fund investment in private equity vs public equity," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(2), pages 155-172, February.
    39. Balding, Christopher, 2012. "Sovereign Wealth Funds: The New Intersection of Money and Politics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199842902.
    40. Kotter, Jason & Lel, Ugur, 2011. "Friends or foes? Target selection decisions of sovereign wealth funds and their consequences," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 360-381, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Mork, Knut Anton & Harang, Fabian Andsem & Trønnes, Haakon Andreas & Bjerketvedt, Vegard Skonseng, 2023. "Dynamic spending and portfolio decisions with a soft social norm," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    2. Amar, J. & Lecourt, C. & Carpantier, J.F., 2022. "GCC Sovereign Wealth Funds: Why do they take control?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Alhashel, Bader S. & Albader, Sulaiman H., 2020. "How do sovereign wealth funds pay their portfolio companies’ executives? Evidence from Kuwait," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 303-322.
    4. Grira, Jocelyn, 2020. "Back to government ownership: The Sovereign Wealth Funds phenomenon," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    5. Knut Anton Mork & Fabian Andsem Harang & Haakon Andreas Tr{o}nnes & Vegard Skonseng Bjerketvedt, 2022. "Dynamic spending and portfolio decisions with a soft social norm," Papers 2212.10053, arXiv.org.
    6. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra & Anna Grosman & Geoffrey T. Wood, 2023. "Cross-country variations in sovereign wealth funds’ transparency," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(3), pages 306-329, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gangi, Francesco & Mustilli, Mario & Varrone, Nicola & Graziano, Domenico, 2023. "Target firms’ characteristics and the effects of sovereign wealth funds’ investments: Does cultural context of SWFs matter?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    2. Bahoo, Salman & Alon, Ilan & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2020. "Sovereign wealth funds: Past, present and future," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    3. Gangi, Francesco & Meles, Antonio & Mustilli, Mario & Graziano, Domenico & Varrone, Nicola, 2019. "Do investment determinants and effects vary across sovereign wealth fund categories? A firm-level analysis," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 438-457.
    4. Boubakri, Narjess & Cosset, Jean-Claude & Grira, Jocelyn, 2016. "Sovereign wealth funds targets selection: A comparison with pension funds," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 60-76.
    5. Murtinu, Samuele & Scalera, Vittoria G., 2016. "Sovereign Wealth Funds' Internationalization Strategies: The Use of Investment Vehicles," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 249-264.
    6. Garg, Roshni & Shukla, Abha, 2024. "Sovereign wealth funds as anchor investors in IPOs: Evidence from India," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Boubakri, Narjess & Cosset, Jean-Claude & Grira, Jocelyn, 2017. "Sovereign wealth funds investment effects on target firms' competitors," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 96-112.
    8. Grira, Jocelyn & Labidi, Chiraz & Rouatbi, Wael, 2022. "Does political risk matter for sovereign wealth funds? International evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    9. Dreassi, Alberto & Miani, Stefano & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2017. "Sovereign pension and social security reserve funds: A portfolio analysis," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 43-53.
    10. Boubaker, Sabri & Boubakri, Narjess & Grira, Jocelyn & Guizani, Asma, 2018. "Sovereign wealth funds and equity pricing: Evidence from implied cost of equity of publicly traded targets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 202-224.
    11. Peng Liu & Nathan Mauck & S. McKay Price, 2020. "Are Government Owned Investment Funds Created Equal? Evidence from Sovereign Wealth Fund Real Estate Acquisitions," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 698-729, November.
    12. Aggarwal, Raj & Goodell, John W., 2018. "Sovereign wealth fund governance and national culture," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 78-92.
    13. Alhashel, Bader S. & Albader, Sulaiman H., 2020. "How do sovereign wealth funds pay their portfolio companies’ executives? Evidence from Kuwait," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 303-322.
    14. Paul Calluzzo & G Nathan Dong & David Godsell, 2017. "Sovereign wealth fund investments and the US political process," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(2), pages 222-243, February.
    15. Ciarlone, Alessio & Miceli, Valeria, 2016. "Escaping financial crises? Macro evidence from sovereign wealth funds' investment behaviour," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 169-196.
    16. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra & Anna Grosman & Geoffrey T. Wood, 2023. "Cross-country variations in sovereign wealth funds’ transparency," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(3), pages 306-329, September.
    17. Ghouma, Hatem H. & Ouni, Zeineb, 2022. "The sovereign wealth funds risk premium: Evidence from the cost of debt financing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Amar, J. & Lecourt, C. & Carpantier, J.F., 2022. "GCC Sovereign Wealth Funds: Why do they take control?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    19. Mohamed Arouri, 2018. "On the Determinants of Sovereign Wealth Funds’ Investments: Are Arab SWFs different?," Post-Print hal-02080095, HAL.
    20. Alhashel, Bader, 2015. "Sovereign Wealth Funds: A literature review," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1-13.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sovereign wealth funds; Arab region; Investment strategies; Political influence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:70:y:2018:i:c:p:62-76. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620167 .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.