Japan seeks $927mn from Gulf wealth funds

DOOR KNOCKING: Japanese trade officials suggested a fund to encourage investment in the Land of the Rising Sun. (Getty Images)

Japan has begun talks with sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East to raise as much as 100 billion yen ($927 million) to boost foreign investment that is less than a quarter that of the US, newswire Bloomberg rported on Tuesday. 

Japanese officials have met with state funds, including Saudi Arabian Investment Co., in oil-producing nations to create a 200 billion yen fund to which Japan will provide half the initial capital from its budget in the next two years, a senior official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on condition of anonymity because negotiations are under way, it said.

Trade ministry officials began talks during a six-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar last week, the official said.
 
Japan aims to attract some of the $3.3 trillion in assets held by sovereign wealth funds that want to expand investments beyond the US and Europe after the US subprime mortgage crisis, it said.

Japan ranked last among major economies as a destination for foreign direct investment between 1997 and 2006 in a study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

"It is not specifically oil money that they are after; any money will do,'' it quoted Nicholas Smith, director of equity sales at HSBC Securities Japan in Tokyo, as saying. "Middle Eastern funds tend to be most interested in infrastructure, construction and renewable energy investments.''

Government officials and representatives from industries will hold a second round of talks in October or November to present investment opportunities, he said.

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