Prudential Financial has confirmed selling its 75% share of the Manhattan Chrysler Building to the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC). The council is reported to have paid about $800 million.

Middle Eastern governments with large surpluses of money -- usually from oil and gas revenues -- establish 'sovereign wealth funds' which they use to invest abroad. Dubai has recently made a billion dollar investment in the General Motors Building, and another Abu Dhabi investment group made a $7.5 billion investment in Citigroup.

Analysts say energy-rich governments in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and other Gulf countries are taking advantage of falling prices to invest in property and financial firms around the world.

Middle Eastern investors have spent $1.8bn this year on commercial US property, according to research firm Real Capital Analytics.

I am not sure whether this trend bodes well for the U.S. It certainly stinks of irony in a very obvious manner. So far, governments in France, Germany and the U.S. are not as concerned about Middle Eastern investments in real estate as they might be if these huge surplus funds were put to other uses, such as exerting political leverage on Western governments. The International Money Fund is working to draw up a code of conduct for the investment industry.