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Abu Dhabi sovereign investor, Mubadala Investment Company, plans to double its Asia exposure to nearly 25% of its total portfolio over the next decade as part of a diversification strategy.
Speaking at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Mohamed Albadr, Mubadala’s Head of Asia highlighted a “paradigm shift” in the region driven by digitalisation. Asia currently accounts for nearly 13% of Mubadala’s $330 billion AUM, “but in the next five to ten years, we would love to see that double,” Albadr said.
While North America currently accounts for the lion’s share or 40% of Mubadala’s current AUM, the Asia pivot from the current $43 billion in assets could see the figure close in on $86 billion in less than 10 years.
Albadr said the growth in Asian assets will be plotted through a “multi-strategy approach, whether it’s through private equity, infrastructure or real estate, or through our endowment model, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council.”
Private equity investments have been “driving” a lot of that deployment, according to Albadr, “mainly through large quantities, including in the late stage and buyout space.”
Mubadala’s core Asian markets include China, Japan, South Korea and India, which offers a mature private equity market with exit opportunities via strategies or capital markets, he said.
“China is the centrepiece of our portfolio when it comes to Asia,” he continued. “Today, we have an office in Beijing, we have 35 staff members, and we also have a joint venture office in Hong Kong, and that’s a market where we can see there’s going to be a lot of structural reform.”
Recent investments in China include Mubadala’s participation in a consortium that acquired majority control of property developer Dalian Wanda’s mall unit for $8.3 billion in 2024. The same year, Mubadala also partnered with the CBC Group, Asia’s largest healthcare-dedicated asset management group, to acquire 100% ownership in the carve-out of UCB Pharma’s mature business in China.
(Reporting by Bindu Rai, editing by Seban Scaria)
