Sovereign wealth funds are looking to park more of their $2 trillion with U.S. companies.
Citigroup's newfound $7.5 billion cash infusion from Abu Dhabi's state investment fund may not cure all that ails the embattled bank, but it heralds the growing influence of sovereign wealth funds.
With similar government-owned funds swimming in cash, more iconic U.S. firms like Citigroup may find themselves owned, at least in part, by foreign governments.
Sovereign wealth funds, which act as a country's investment arm, have long been investing money gained through exports or from the sale of commodities such as oil.
But because of their rapidly expanding size, these funds have become harder to ignore.
Located both in the oil-rich Middle East, as well as other nations such as Russia and Singapore, the funds' combined assets under management are expected in the next three years to quadruple in size to $7.9 trillion from $1.9 trillion, according to Merrill Lynch.
While government debt like U.S. Treasuries have long been their investment vehicle of choice, the funds' appetites have grown more complex as they have searched for greater returns, said Jay Bryson, global economist at Wachovia Corp.
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