Value View: 12/04/2007  

VALUE VIEW. Sovereign Wealth firms are getting their feet wet. Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund just invested in Citigroup and has previously invested in US buyout firms Carlyle Group and Apollo Management. The United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth fund invested in Och-Ziff Capital Management, a US hedge fund. China’s sovereign wealth fund recently invested in private equity giant The Blackstone Group. Now China’s same sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp, which got burnt in Blackstone, says it may invest in financial firms hurt by the subprime mess. Schwartz View: There’s no guarantee that China and these Middle East oil exporting countries are going to immediately get it right. Usually it takes some experience to buy right. And if they buy wrong, gauge the global economy incorrectly, lots of riches will disappear quickly. Remember the US has invested our social security monies in only US Treasuries. One reason is because we can’t afford to lose our savings. Please remember China and the Middle East have recently gotten rich very easily so that’s gotta make a lot of their caution fly away, making them feel invincible. Plus also let me remind you experienced Jim Rogers, Warren Buffett and other long time successful value investors have been moving their money out of US dollars, not in.