Sept 1 (Reuters) - France said on Thursday it had U.N. approval to release around a third of its frozen Libyan assets to help rebuild the country.
An estimated ${esc.dollar}150 billion in sovereign assets once controlled by former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his inner circle was frozen abroad by foreign governments and 144 tonnes of gold is held by the Libyan central bank.
Here are details about some of the Libyan assets released and how much has been frozen.
* ASSETS RELEASED:
-- The National Transitional Council hopes to gain speedy access to billions of dollars in frozen overseas assets at a "Friends of Libya" conference in Paris hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
-- On Aug. 25 the United States and South Africa struck a deal to allow the release of ${esc.dollar}1.5 billion in frozen Libya funds for humanitarian aid and other civilian needs.
-- The ${esc.dollar}1.5 billion is expected to be split into three ${esc.dollar}500 million tranches to pay for humanitarian relief by U.N. agencies, for civilian power and for health, education and food, the U.S. State Department said.
-- Austria is examining ways to free up the money but says it needs legal documents from the NTC.
-- Britain said on Aug. 30 the United Nations had agreed to its request to release ${esc.dollar}1.55 billion of Libyan bank notes.
-- France on Thursday released 1.5 billion euros (${esc.dollar}2.16 billion) of Libyan assets. The approval by the U.N. Sanctions Committee will release about one-fifth of the total Libyan assets parked in French banks.
-- Italy has begun unfreezing 350 million euros (${esc.dollar}503.9 million) of Libyan funds in Italian banks as a first step in a broader effort to unblock all of the country's assets.
-- Spain has asked the U.N. to allow it to unblock 350 million euros to make them available to the transition government in Libya. It's already freed up 16 million euros of that for humanitarian aid to the transitional government.
-- Switzerland said last week it planned to release millions of Swiss francs worth of frozen Libyan assets as soon as the United Nations lifted sanctions.
ASSETS FROZEN:
* Austria: Its central bank has said some 1.2 billion euros in Libyan assets were deposited in Austrian institutions.
* Britain: Britain had frozen 12 billion pounds (${esc.dollar}19.2 billion) of Libyan assets which covered individuals as well as entities. The Gaddafi family is reported to have billions of dollars of investments in London, while Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, owns a 10 million pound (${esc.dollar}16 million) home there.
* Canada: Canada said on March 1 it had frozen C${esc.dollar}2.3 billion (${esc.dollar}2.4 billion) worth of assets belonging to Gaddafi.
* France: France has 7.6 billion euros (${esc.dollar}11.0 billion) of assets deposited in French banks.
* Germany: The German Economy Ministry said on March 10 it had frozen bank accounts belonging to Libya. Access to money of the Libyan Central Bank, Libya Africa Investment Portfolio, Libyan Foreign Bank and Libyan Investment Authority is forbidden in Germany until further notice, the ministry said. There are more than 7 billion euros in frozen Libyan funds in Germany.
* Italy, once Libya's closest ally in the West, froze about ${esc.dollar}8 billion of assets as part of the sanctions against Gaddafi.
* Luxembourg: Luxembourg froze accounts of the Libyan Central Bank and the Libyan Investment Authority on March 8. The accounts held less than 1 billion euros (${esc.dollar}1.39 billion).
* Spain: Spain has frozen some 2 billion euros in Libyan assets including 350 million euros of cash in Spanish banks. The other assets that are frozen are 900 million in Spanish bonds held by Libya, and property including a big development project in Malaga, where Gaddafi had planned to build a resort including homes and a golf course.
* Switzerland: In June the value of the assets held in Swiss banks was some 650 million Swiss francs (${esc.dollar}827 million).
* United States: The United States has frozen more than ${esc.dollar}34 billion in Libyan assets.
* LIBYAN INVESTMENT AUTHORITY:
-- The market value of the Libyan Investment Authority's (LIA) investment portfolio rebounded in the third quarter of 2010, after a 4.5 percent slump in the prior quarter, to ${esc.dollar}64.19 billion as of Sept. 30, 2010, the fund's management information report showed.
-- The LIA held deposits worth ${esc.dollar}20.2 billion at the end of the third-quarter 2010 and a cash position of ${esc.dollar}593.2 million. It had around ${esc.dollar}17.32 billion of its term deposits with the Libyan Central Bank.
-- About ${esc.dollar}1.4 billion in cash and deposits was held with HSBC Holdings while ${esc.dollar}1 billion was deposited with Arab Banking Corp, according to the report.
-- The fund held ${esc.dollar}32 billion in cash with several U.S. banks each managing up to ${esc.dollar}500 million, and it has primary investments in London, a confidential diplomatic cable showed earlier in 2011. (Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit) (${esc.dollar}1 = 0.695 Euros)
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