Will oil states awash in cash be the next foreign governments to get in on the U.S. private equity boom?
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- China raised eyebrows on Wall Street and in the red-hot private equity business last month when its state-run investment arm agreed to buy a stake in Blackstone Group, one of the leading private equity firms in the United States.
The question now is which governments will be the next to partner up with a major private equity firm?
Oil-producing nations - which have benefited from the climb in oil prices over the last five years - are believed to be among the most likely candidates. The surge in oil prices has sent the value of their oil exports soaring - creating huge trade surpluses and lots of cash for governments in the Middle East and Central Asia.



