Kuwait Investment Authority To Expand Germany Investments

The Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds and a long-term investor in German auto maker Daimler AG, wants to ramp up investments in Europe’s largest economy.

Speaking at a ceremony in Stuttgart to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of Kuwait’s investment in Daimler, Anas K. Al-Saleh, minister of finance in Kuwait and chairman of the board of the Kuwait Investment Authority, said the KIA would continue to increase its investments in Germany.

Kuwait has invested almost $18 billion in Germany.

The KIA was founded in 1953 and is one of the world’s largest institutional investors. It is the largest shareholder in Daimler, owning a 6.8 per cent stake.

In November 1974, it paid $329 million for a stake equivalent to 14 per cent of the company’s equity at the time, from the Quandt Group, who control BMW. The Daimler stake has grown in value to almost $6 billion.

Guenther Oettinger, vice president of the European Commission for Energy, said at the ceremony the partnership between Daimler and the KIA could be a model for other investments, such as in energy.

“The successful strategic partnership … could … be an example regarding the future development of the partnership between Kuwait and the EU in terms of energy,” Oettinger said. “We are interested to work together regarding a more efficient future of oil drilling and the use of more renewable energy sources.”