Libya’s $66-billion sovereign wealth fund, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), said it plans to hire external companies to manage about $11 billion of its assets under a restructuring plan.
LIA chairman Abdulmagid Breish told Bloomberg that the company will split its assets into three distinct funds starting as soon as next year:
“The LIA is preparing itself to come back to the international fold ... We will use best-of-breed fund managers, advisers and consultants.”
He did not specify which companies will be invited to bid for the work.
The LIA is planning to set up three funds with different purposes:
- Budget Stabilization Fund (Fiscal Stabilization)
- Future Generation Fund (Savings)
- Local Development Fund (Strategic Development Domestic)
The LIA directly owns about 550 companies, making up about half its assets, some of which will be wound down or sold, while profitable ventures will eventually be added to the Future Generation Fund.
Breish said the LIA was also overhauling its risk management, decision making, information technology and other internal systems.
The LIA is suing Societe Generale (SocGen) and Goldman Sachs in the London for a total of about $2.5 billion over investments that lost as much as 80 percent; Goldman is understood to be seeking an early dismissal of its case.
Breish said he was considering filing other lawsuits “of a smaller magnitude, perhaps of a similar nature,” adding that one potential target is Dutch hedge fund Palladyne International Asset Management. In March, a former employee sued Palladyne in the U.S. alleging the firm laundered funds for Gaddafi.
(Source: Bloomberg)
