Oil Rich Nations Place Their Bets
August 29th, 2008
Found a highly insightful article in the recent Harvard Business Review (subscription required) which examines where oil-rich Gulf countries are investing staggering sums brought about by the combination of the gigantic American trade deficit and the price of oil at more than $125 per barrel which have created an attendant pool of financial liquidity among […]
Read more »Axis of Commerce
August 29th, 2008
Via Portfolio Magazine, an interesting look at how U.S. companies are using Dubai as an illegal conduit into Iran. “…Despite sanctions aimed at stemming the sales of U.S. products to Iran, the goods are still getting there. U.S. sanctions were first imposed against Iran in 1979, during the hostage crisis. The current embargo dates back […]
Read more »Ka$hakhstan
August 10th, 2008
Via Arabian Business, an interesting look at the wave of Middle Eastern investment targeting Kazakhstan. Up for grabs is the vast and untapped commodity wealth of a country the size of Western Europe, with all the wheat, copper and uranium that Gulf states need. As the article notes: “…The head of investment banking at Renaissance […]
Read more »Russia’s Chess Match in The Middle East & North Africa
August 1st, 2008
From The National, an interesting analysis of Russia’s recent diplomatic and trade activities in the Middle East and North Africa in a bid to enhance its geopolitical clout and gain access to, and at least partial control over, the region’s oil and gas reserves. As the article notes: “…Among the former global superpower’s tactics: linking […]
Read more »Diversification Benefits of Frontier Markets
February 8th, 2008
As reported by The International Herald Tribune, “frontier” markets are gaining even more interest than before in light of the recent turmoil in more developed markets. As the article notes, what has started to come home to investors is that frontier markets, which are remarkably diverse, have achieved these good returns with low correlation to […]
Read more »Challenges & Opportunities Facing Emerging Markets in the Middle East & North Africa
January 10th, 2008
In a recent article published by Knowledge@Wharton, Howard Pack (a professor of business and public policy at Wharton) and Marcus Noland (a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics) examined how Arab countries are coping with globalization & exploiting the recent influx of hydrocarbon-based money into their economies. We found the following notes […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.