Among the sovereign wealth funds that have always expressed interest in investing in Italy there is the Adia (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority), led by Pascal Duhamel, a sovereign wealth fund set up by the government of Abu Dhabi in order to make investments with the aim of allowing diversification as well as the internationalization of the UAE’s economic system. Generally speaking, public investment vehicles belonging directly to the government of a particular country are called sovereign wealth funds and they are used to invest in tax surpluses or in foreign currency reserves. Due to their importance and their influence on global finance, the main sovereign wealth funds met in Santiago de Chile in 2008 to agree on a set of objectives to be achieved and behaviors to be taken in the management of equity participation, known as Principles of Santiago. The document, titled “Generally accepted principles and Practices”, drafted by the International Working Group, co-chaired by Aida, contains 24 voluntary principles that constitute the primary guidelines for governance and international investment. To date, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is the second largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, after the Norwegian fund, with an estimated value of 820 billion euros at the end of 2016. The decline of the assets of the oil funds prompted the UAE fund toward the diversification of investments in international markets. In Italy, according to the Sovereign Annual Report of 2015, published by Bocconi University, 56.9% of Aida’s investment portfolio focuses on real estate, hotels and infrastructures, areas which have always provided substantial long term returns. At the same time the Italian Government itself, in continuity with the activities of the FSI (Italian Strategic Fund), is taking action to attract investments from the UAE towards Italian national business excellences, with the primary objective of reviving and consolidating the Made in Italy in the global market.
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