Aggressive steps taken by the US government such as slashing interest rates and injecting cash into the banking system should help the US economy bounce back quicker than other countries, claims Soud Ba'alawy, executive chairman of the Dubai Group.
'I think there will be a tremendous amount of investment opportunities. We are committed to the US market,' said Ba'alawy. The group already has investment properties in the US New York's landmark Essex House hotel on the south end of Central Park. The company also owns a number of other US hotels and office buildings, and has stakes in a variety of financial and insurance companies in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
'We're going to continue to be investing in the US. It provides fantastic opportunities in terms of real estate, in terms of companies,' added Ba'alawy.
He pointed out that Dubai Group, a division of Dubai Holding, an investment conglomerate controlled by the emirate's ruler, Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is healthy.
The parent company last year reported profit of 13.9 billion UAE dirhams. While not structured in the same way as state-run sovereign wealth funds, Dubai Holding is like those funds thought to have large cash reserves it can tap at a time when other sources of funding, such as global credit markets, have largely disappeared.
Some experts believe that these kinds of funds are the way forward for investment in the current economic climate. 'Sovereign wealth funds have a wonderful opportunity out there today. They have permanent capital. And the one thing that's lacking in this world today is permanent capital,' said Pacific Investment Management Company co-chief executive Mohamed El-Erian.