Today's Edition
ABU DHABI ( ALETIHAD)
The Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala) ranked as the world’s largest foreign investor for 2023 with a capital investment totalling $41.8 billion across 22 projects worldwide, creating 3967 jobs, according to FDI Markets’ recent report titled “Global Greenfield Investment Trends”.
The report highlighted that the UAE attracted approximately 1,279 new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects last year. The total global new FDI projects reached 16,427 projects, valued at $1.3 trillion.
Following Mubadala, China’s United Energy Group was the second-largest foreign investor, with $17.7 billion in investments. Ireland’s Amarenco ranked third with $9.8 billion. Dubai World was ninth on the list of top investors by project count, with investments in 27 projects amounting to $4.7 billion and creating 15,073 jobs.
The report emphasised the significant expansion of Emirati companies in sustainable sectors, notably Masdar’s projects in green hydrogen. These initiatives included large-scale green hydrogen deployments worldwide and bolstered the local hydrogen economy, positioning the UAE as a key hub for hydrogen production and export.
The report identified the digital economy’s project-intensive service sectors, such as software and IT, as significant contributors to the number of projects. It also highlighted that capital-intensive sectors like renewable energy, electronics, and oil and gas continued to attract substantial investments, requiring significant capital but relatively low labour. The renewable energy sector retained its position as the sector with the highest capital investment for the fourth year in a row, despite a 6.6% decline from $372.5 billion in 2022 to $348 billion in 2023.
Regional Investment Flows
The report displayed uneven geographic distribution in 2023. While the number of announced projects declined in Europe and North America compared to 2022, FDI activity surged in the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East. Asia-Pacific, in particular, experienced a robust year as major economies, including China, lifted pandemic-related restrictions, revitalising the FDI deal flow. This resurgence enabled the region to reestablish itself as a significant source of capital, with Chinese outbound greenfield FDI reaching record levels. Unlike previous trends, most of China’s FDI shifted towards the developing world, as Chinese companies sought to align with more compatible countries and nearshoring hubs serving key markets in North America and Europe.
The Middle East also saw a significant increase in outbound investment flows in 2022 and 2023. Sovereign investors, notably Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala, emerged as prominent players.
