Top officials at Gulf Pension Fund asked to resign

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Top officials at Gulf Pension Fund asked to resign

A broad shakeup of state institutions was deepened in Kuwait after top officials in the Gulf state pension fund were asked to resign.

Three of his deputies, including Raed Al-Nisf, were ordered to leave Kuwait's Public Institution for Social Security PIFSS. The officials had spent years revamping the roughly $137 billion fund, which owns a quarter of US private equity firm Stone Point Capital LLC.

The shift comes ahead of the OPEC member state's parliamentary elections on Thursday. One person familiar with the changes said that the officials resigned from the fund under pressure from Kuwait's powerful political opposition.

The opposition has been calling for the government to remove officials from state bodies that are deemed to be associated with the era under the former leadership, regardless of performance.

According to an official document seen by Bloomberg, Ahmad Hamad Al-Thunayan, an official at the fund, was appointed interim director general. Representatives at the finance ministry and the PIFSS didn't respond immediately to requests for comment.

This week's elections come after ruler Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah called for the dissolution of parliament via a speech made by his crown prince. The goal was to break a political deadlock that has paralyzed policymaking.

Years of squabbling between elected lawmakers and a government appointed by the ruling Al-Sabah family have set back fiscal reforms and development.

The former head of the organization was found guilty of profiting personally from the organization over decades, and he was part of a management team hired in 2017 to overhaul the state-owned institution.

The PIFSS recorded 20.9% growth in assets in the last fiscal year. The law was passed by the parliament to distribute a one-time special dividend of $10,000 to every Kuwaiti retiree earlier this year.

The fund also owns 10% of TowerBrook Capital Partners LP.

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