Firms and companies based in the Middle East completed just $557 million in U.S. acquisitions last year, less than acquirers based in every other region of the world except Africa, according to Zephyr, a worldwide deal-tracking database. Investments from the Middle East have been under scrutiny because of the political uproar surrounding the acquisition of U.S. port operator Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. by Dubai Ports World.
In the last six years, Middle East acquirers--excluding Israel--completed $8.4 billion in U.S. acquisitions, according to Zephyr. Some of the largest deals involve investors based in Saudi Arabia. Kingdom Holdings Company made a $1 billion investment in Citigroup and another $450 million in then-named AOL Time Warner in 2002. Last year, Arcapita Bank acquired a $100 million majority interest in Falcon Gas Storage, a natural gas storage company. In comparison, last year alone European investors spent more than $57 billion on U.S. targets. Asia-based investors completed deals worth $9.8 billion. Investments from Africa totaled a mere $22 million.