In 2007, Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) first began to make headlines with their investments in troubled U.S. financial institutions. In 2008, look for that trend to continue. In fact, mega-advertising agency JWT has even named "Foreign Government Investment in U.S. Companies" as one of the Top 80 Things to Watch in 2008.
The single best resource I've found for understanding the global scope of SWF investment is this interactive SWF map from the Wall Street Journal. Some of the fund sizes are truly impressive: Russia has assembled a $30 billion Future Generations Fund, China has a $200 billion fund, Singapore has nearly $500 billion in two different funds, and Abu Dhabi has put together an $875 billion fund (the largest SWF in the world).
[interactive map: Wall Street Journal]
