Sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) has announced a $500 million investment in Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) as part of its global strategy.

The announcement was made during a meeting at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of leading global investment and securities firms.

Under the new automatic co-investment mechanism, KIA will initially invest $500 million alongside the RDIF besides co-investing in all RDIF transactions, revealed CEO and managing director Bader Mohammed Al-Saad in the meeting with Putin.

'Russia's economy will continue to grow faster than those of developed countries. Co-investing with the RDIF offers us a good opportunity to invest in the real economy and gain diversification across all sectors,' remarked Al Saad.

He pointed ouit that this was not a short-term investment in the stock market prone to volatility.

'It is an excellent and fair partnership with the RDIF and there is Russian government support for this partnership. We highly rate the skilled management team of the RDIF,' he added.

Commenting on the tieup, Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive officer of the RDIF, said the automatic co-investment by the KIA significantly increased the funds the RDIF could invest in the Russian economy.

'We are delighted to be announcing a major co-investment with a leading fund from the Middle East, already second for the RDIF, as historically that region of the world has not been well represented among foreign investors in Russia,' he added.

Top officials including Kurt Bjorklund, co-managing partner, Permira; Leon Black, chairman and CEO of Apollo Global Management; David Bonderman, the co-founder and managing partner, TPG; Chong-Suk Choi, the president and CEO of Korea Investment Corp; Lou Jiwei, the chairman and CEO of China Investment Corp; Michael Phillips, the partner of  Apax Partners; Laurent Vigier, the director of European and International Affairs and Caisse des Depots International took part.

During the meeting, a consortium of leading investors that manage in excess of $5 trillion - BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Franklin Templeton - said they have joined the RDIF in launching a pre-IPO program targeting investments in leading Russian companies planning an IPO on the Moscow stock exchange (Micex-RTS).

 The Pre-IPO program will seek to make investments in Russian companies with annual revenues in excess of $500 million that are planning to go public on the Moscow stock exchange within the next 6-18 months.

Each investment will be decided upon by the program's co-investors acting separately in their own discretion.-TradeArabia News Service