Adel Al-Shirawi: Istithmar World is not interested in banks at the moment

"Helping to strengthen capital is not part of our strategy," Adel Al Shirawi told reporters at a business forum in Shanghai. The forum aims to promote economic ties between China and the United Arab Emirates.

The vice president of Dubai-based Istithmar World said on Wednesday the company did not intend to take advantage of the fall in banking sector prices by buying stakes in troubled banks.

Istithmar World said it had no plans to buy stakes in banks at the moment. It spent $ 1 billion to buy a 2.7 percent stake in Standard Chartered Bank in 2006.

Financial institutions such as UBS, which on Tuesday canceled $ 19 billion of its assets, "are not on our radar screen," Shirawi said.

But he said the fall in asset prices around the world meant that several sectors involved investment opportunities could be tempting.

"We are following the market and if the investment involves financial logic, we will move in time, we are studying all the assets and we are not favoring any (particular) sector," he said.

Istithmar is part of the Dubai World Group, which runs businesses and investments around the world.

A number of sovereign wealth funds and Gulf investment agencies have been pouring money into troubled US banks.

Source: Numbers website