DUBAI, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Libya's government is in
talks with International Finance Corporation executive Ahmed Ali
Attiga to appoint him as head of its sovereign wealth fund,
sources told Reuters.
The Libyan Investment Authority, which owns stakes in
Italian bank UniCredit and British publisher Pearson
, has been headless since last year after the exit of
Mohammed Layas, who was linked to the regime of ousted dictator
Muammar Gaddafi.
A banking source said the Libyans had been in talks with
Attiga trying to hammer out details of his new job.
"They have recently been discussing with Attiga what his
mandate would be," the source said.
Attiga, currently the IFC's representative in Jordan, did
not reply to an email requesting comment.
The IFC is part of the World Bank group and is a global
development institution focused on the private sector in
developing countries.
"Attiga brings to the position a very strong background in
governance and investment discipline and uniquely enjoys
the combined support of the NTC, the interim government, and
Libya's financial community," a second source familiar with the
matter said.
"I expect the LIA to be in a strong position under his
leadership and hope that he be given the local and international
support to implement the challenging but necessary changes
to Libya's sovereign wealth fund," he said.
Attiga comes from a prominent Libyan family. His father Ali
Attiga was a senior official under King Idris, who ruled Libya
before Gaddafi. He was forced to leave the country and later
became secretary general of the Organization of Arab Petroleum
Exporting Countries.
TO SHRINK?
The Libyan sovereign fund had assets of about $65 billion
last year, but its acting chief executive Rafik Nayed told
Reuters then that he expected that to shrink.
At the middle of last year, it had $10.8 billion invested in
equities and $9.7 billion in bonds. The fund was created in 2006
to manage the country's oil dollars, and its assets were frozen
at the height of the Allied movement to oust Gaddafi.
The country's central bank Governor, Saddeq Omar Elkaber,
said last month Libya's investment vehicles would turn their
attention to Libya after being focused mainly abroad.
Elkaber said the lifting of U.N. sanctions on the central
bank's assets had unfrozen 95 percent of its assets, estimated
at nearly $100 billion.
The sanctions had originally frozen $170 billion in assets,
he said, adding that $70 billion were the investments of the LIA
and other investment vehicles, including government-owned banks
such as Libyan Foreign Bank.
(Additional reporting by Mirna Sleiman and Regan Doherty;
Editing by Will Waterman)
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