Today's Edition
MAYS IBRAHIM (ABU DHABI)
The UAE’s state-owned investors (SOIs) manage the world’s fourth-largest pool of assets, totalling Dh10.75 trillion, according to the 2026 Annual Report released on Thursday by Global SWF.
This places them only behind their counterparts in the US ($13.2 trillion), followed by China ($8.22 trillion), and Japan ($3.84 trillion).
The report said that state-owned investors worldwide - including sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), public pension funds (PPFs) and central banks - reached a historic $60 trillion in assets by the end of 2025.
SWFs alone crossed the $15 trillion mark for the first time, with Global SWF projecting that total state-owned assets could climb to around $80 trillion by 2030.
Gulf sovereign investors were among the most active players globally, the report showed.
Collectively, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala, ADIA and ADQ, alongside ICD, Kuwait Investment Authority, and Qatar Investment Authority invested $119 billion in 2025. This represents a 43% increase from the previous year and accounts for 43% of all capital deployed by state-owned investors worldwide.
PIF was ranked as the world’s largest investor in 2025, with $36.2 billion committed during the year. Global SWF noted that roughly 80% of this figure was tied to a single mega-deal involving EA Sports.
Excluding that transaction, Mubadala emerges as the biggest spender for the second consecutive year, deploying a record $33.7 billion across 40 transactions.
The US was the primary beneficiary of sovereign capital flows, attracting $132 billion – or 47% of total state-owned investments, according to the report.
The year also saw a shift in how sovereign investors deploy capital. Rather than pursuing a high volume of deals, investors focused on fewer but significantly larger transactions, increasingly favouring platforms and club deals alongside long-term partners, the report said.
Total investments by SWFs rose 35% year-on-year to $180.3 billion across 324 deals, while PPF investments climbed 26% to $97.8 billion across 238 transactions. Average deal size increased to $490 million.
In terms of investment themes, digitalisation continued to dominate across asset classes, with sovereign investors allocating substantial capital to artificial intelligence, data centres and digital infrastructure.
Climate-related investments reached a new record of $35.7 billion, while private credit continued to gain traction as investors sought yield in illiquid markets.
Real estate and infrastructure also staged a notable recovery in 2025, albeit remaining below their peak levels of 2021 and 2022.
