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Investments by Abu Dhabi’s second-biggest sovereign investor Mubadala surged by a third last year, driven by a jump in deals in North America, private equity and artificial intelligence.
The sharp increase in capital deployment by the now $330bn fund underscores the appetite for deals from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds, which were among the biggest sovereign spenders last year and are continuing to bet heavily on the US despite the economic uncertainty since President Donald Trump took office.
Mubadala made Dh119bn ($32.4bn) worth of investments in 2024, up from Dh89bn the previous year. Industry tracker Global SWF said it was the world’s most active sovereign wealth fund last year.
The investor’s assets under management also increased 9 per cent to Dh1.2tn in 2024, and Mubadala said it had made a 10.1 per cent annualised return over the past five years, slightly below the 10.3 per cent five-year return rate it reported last year. It does not report returns on an annual basis.
Chief executive Khaldoon al-Mubarak said the 23-year-old fund’s portfolio had been “constructed to navigate market cycles and scale future-focused sectors — from AI and clean energy to life sciences, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing — all aligned with our national priorities”.
The standout region for dealmaking was North America, where investments almost doubled year on year, Mubadala said.
Abu Dhabi has been keen to emphasise its support for the US economy irrespective of the administration, and earlier this year pledged to make $1.4tn worth of investments over the next decade. Trump is scheduled to visit the United Arab Emirates next week.
AI is a particular focus for Mubadala, which owns 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s AI investment vehicle MGX alongside Abu Dhabi AI group G42, chaired by powerful national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
MGX last year backed a $30bn AI infrastructure fund, involving BlackRock, Microsoft and others.
The UAE is positioning itself as a regional hub for AI and is seeking better access to the advanced US-made chips needed to power the emerging technology.
Mubadala has also raised the proportion of its assets deployed in private equity investments and decreased the amount in public markets, reflecting a broader long-term trend.
The investor said that 40 per cent of its assets were now in private equity, up from 38 per cent last year, while the proportion invested in public markets was now 23 per cent, down from 25 per cent in 2023.
Mubadala has also increased its bets on infrastructure and private credit, and its private debt portfolio is now worth $20bn, the fund said.
Sovereign funds in the oil-rich Gulf control 40 per cent of the world’s sovereign wealth, according to a Deloitte report published in March.