Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund, which bought into Citigroup and Merrill Lynch this year, invests at least 76 percent of its assets in the United States and Europe, a newspaper reported on Monday. The Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), which manages the surplus wealth of the world's seventh-biggest oil exporter, invests between 55 and 65 percent of its total assets in global equities, daily Al-Jarida reported, citing a KIA report. The wealth fund - which had at least $213 billion of assets under management on March 31, 2007 - invested about 15 to 22 percent in bonds and 8 to 12 percent in real estate. Investments in the United States and Europe account for between 76 and 86 percent of the KIA's investments, divided equally between the two regions, the paper said. Asian and Japanese investments make up between 13 and 17 percent of the KIA's total holdings, while emerging market investments comprise 4 to 6 percent. __
