Mubadala invests Dh120 billion in 40 transactions in 2025

01/01/2026 03:41 AST

The Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala was the most active sovereign wealth fund for the second year in 2025, with a record $32.7 billion (Dh120 billion) in investments in 40 transactions, Global SWF data said on Thursday.

According to its 2026 Annual Report, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) was crowned as the lead investor of 2025, with $36.2 billion committed; however, 80 per cent of this figure refers to the largest SWF-related deal of the year, EA Sports.

Interestingly, Mubadala was also the world's top investor in artificial intelligence and other digital infrastructure in 2025. It pumped in $4.9 billion in pure AI projects and $12.9 billion across all digital assets last year.

Digitalisation is split into three segments - digital infrastructure (DI), which includes fiber optic cables, telecom towers and space investing, and has slightly slowed down after an exceptional 2024; data centers (DC), which was analysed under real estate, and had continued the upwards trajectory with $11.4 billion invested in 2025; and AI, which were included under private equity, and exploded this year to $15.2 billion.

At the end of 2025, the UAE's state-owned institutions with largest assets under management were Abu Dhabi Investment Authority with $1.18 trillion, Investment Corporation of Dubai ($429 billion), Mubadala ($358 billion), ADQ ($251 billion), Emirates Investment Authority ($116 billion), Dubai Investment Fund ($80 billion) and Dubai Holding ($72 billion).

Globally, data showed that SWFs deployed $179.3 billion, up 35 per cent from 2024, in 323 deals, down 9 per cent from 2024, with an average ticket size of $555 million. The "Gulf Seven", the seven largest and most active Middle Eastern SWFs, represented 43 per cent of all capital invested by sovereign investors globally with $126 billion, a historical maximum.

The "Gulf Seven" sovereign wealth funds include Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), ADQ, Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), Mubadala, and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

Moreover, public pension funds (PPFs) invested $ 97.1 billion in 2024, up 25 per cent from 2024, in 236 deals, an increase of 4 per cent from 2024, with an average ticket size of $411 million.

Other large cross-border transactions saw UAE fund Mubadala joining CPP in the shareholding of Nord Anglia; and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and CPP tag alongside Hg to acquire a majority stake in software provider IFS.

In 2025 again, most of the 15 largest deals were completed by a select group of global dealmakers, including the "Gulf Seven", Canada's Maple 8, and Singapore's "Merlion 2" (GIC and Temasek). In addition, there was a significant deal activity from Norway's NBIM (the world's largest SWF) and from APG in the Netherlands, as both co-invested with GIC in the second largest transaction of the year, TenneT.

Khaleej Times