Kuwait to invest $5 bn in UK infrastructure

The Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) plans to invest as much as $5 billion in infrastructure assets, primarily in the UK within the next three years to five years, the Financial Times yesterday reported.

Bader Al Sa'ad, managing director of the KIA, the country's sovereign wealth fund, told the paper that the KIA is targeting existing, heavily regulated infrastructure projects that generate cash.

The investment plan comes after the KIA and its partners last month abandoned their £5.3 billion ($8.2 billion) plan to buy Severn Trent Plc after the British water utility rejected the offer as too low. (See: British water firm Severn Trent rejects $8.2 bn revised bid by consortium)

KIA, which has more than $400 billion in assets under management, has already invested $24 billion in the UK, including in HSBC, BP and Vodafone.

Al-Sa'ad said, 'We have invested more than $24 billion in the UK across all asset classes, sectors and industries. Ten years ago it was only $9 billion. In these troubled and difficult times for the global economy we are a responsible and long-term institutional investor, of which there is a real global scarcity at a time when they are most needed.''