When, in 2006, DP World acquired the British port and ferry operator P&O, in a deal valued at $7.1 billion, political debate over the company’s ownership of US port assets dominated the headlines. What was not in dispute was the transaction’s significance for the industry—the deal catapulted DP World to the position of the world’s third-largest container terminal operator.

Lying behind that massive acquisition, moreover, is a growing trend for companies from across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—to use the petrodollars flooding into the region to finance strategic investments abroad. Even if oil prices declined modestly over the next few years, these states would likely accumulate $2.4 trillion in windfall revenues through 2014. While much of this money is headed toward domestic investments in health care, education, and infrastructure, a significant portion of it is financing overseas investments. But today’s moves, unlike those of earlier oil booms (when much of the surplus was funneled into passive portfolio investments), are likely to be strategic.

What’s more, since today’s investments do not focus exclusively on Europe and North America but also include assets in Asia—another change from the pattern during...