SAUDI FUND PIF NAMED WORLD’S TOP SOVEREIGN INVESTOR

▶ Four other Gulf wealth funds among 10 most active deal makers, report says

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was the top investor among global sovereign wealth funds last year as it continued to boost its investment portfolio, a report has said.

The PIF spent $31.6 billion in 49 deals last year, up 33 per cent from 2022, industry specialist Global SWF said in its annual report yesterday.

The fund outpaced Singapore’s GIC, which was ranked as the top investor for 2022.

Together with the PIF, four other Gulf funds – the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Mubadala Investment Company, ADQ and the Qatar Investment Authority – were ranked among the top 10 most active deal makers last year, the report said.

The Gulf funds are often referred to as the “oil five”.

“In a short span of eight years since its reformulation, the Saudi institution has become a powerhouse both at home and overseas, with the objective of advancing Vision 2030 and of becoming the world’s largest SWF by 2030,” the report said.

The PIF is at the heart of Riyadh’s economic diversification efforts and holds stakes in public and private companies, including Meta and Alphabet, the parent companies of Facebook and Google, respectively.

The fund announced several deals last year, apart from setting up new companies to shore up the domestic economy.

In April, it paid $4.9 billion for US gaming company Scopely through its subsidiary Savvy Games Group.

In August, it acquired Standard Chartered’s aircraft leasing division in a $3.6 billion deal, through AviLease, and a month later, it agreed to buy Saudi Basic Industries Corporation’s steel unit Hadeed for $3.3 billion.

“The variety of deals shows the unparalleled bandwidth and reach of PIF and its subsidiaries, which are forming a wide net to capture any value-add for Saudi Vision 2030,” the report said.

The PIF also raised its stake in British luxury car maker Aston Martin to 20.5 per cent as it increased its investments in the automotive sector.

Last month, it agreed to buy a 49 per cent stake in Rocco Forte Hotels in a deal that is believed to value the luxury group’s properties at about £1.2 billion ($1.52 billion).

The PIF’s portfolio in US equities grew by 18 per cent last year, as a result of the rise in value of the existing stocks, the report said. Half of its US-listed portfolio is in the consumer segment, including $8.1 billion in gaming companies Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and Take-Two.

Even as sovereign wealth funds continued to make investments globally, their total investments fell by 20 per cent on an annual basis last year to $124.7 billion amid volatility in the market, the report said.

The total number of deals also fell by 24 per cent annually to 324, with an average ticket size of $385 million.

“The ‘oil five’ [five most active Middle Eastern funds] continued to gain market share and to drive the activity of SWFs globally, despite the drop in deals by Singaporean funds,” the report said.

With assets worth Dh1.01 trillion ($276 billion), Mubadala continues to boost investments in different sectors around the world. Last year, it made an investment in US-based Aligned Data Centres as it continued to expand its global digital infrastructure portfolio.

In April, Mubadala and the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, a Canadian pension fund, became anchor investors in Cube Highways Trust, an infrastructure investment trust in India.

It also teamed up with Aldar Properties and US alternative investment manager Ares Management to jointly invest $1 billion in a new European private real estate credit platform, to tap into opportunities in key markets in the region.

Last year, the assets under management of sovereign wealth funds in the GCC reached a historical peak of $4.1 trillion while investment activity, although lower than it was in 2022, amounted to $82.3 billion, led by the “oil five”, according to the report.

Sovereign investors are also boosting investments in green assets by a record $26.1 billion, with Gulf sovereign wealth funds being responsible for about half of that figure, the report said.