Finance Minister Elbuchel Sadang said Merill Lynch oversees the money of Palau and the move of the company has no effect on Palau’s investment.
Sadang said that as of Sept. 19, 2008, the Compact of Free Association Trust Fund balances amounted to $157,424, 043.Sadang said although the amount dropped by 2 percent compared to the August figure, this has nothing to do with the Merill Lynch sale but because the United States economy is down.Sadang said the money managers of Palau are Bank of Hawaii (BOH), Aberdeen, Atalanta Sosnoff, Missouri Valley Partners, Evergreen Investments and Gabelli Asset Management.He noted that BOH sold 320,000 units of Lehman Brothers Holdings on July 11, 2008 and the total proceeds of the sale was $304,195.20. The market cost of the units was $302,880 thus a gain of $1,315.20 was realized.He said that out of the six money managers of Palau, only BOH was with Lehman Brothers Holdings.Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy after it failed to find a buyer.The investment bank caused loss of jobs and jolted the financial market in the U.S.
