The UAE’s Mubadala was the world’s most active sovereign wealth fund in 2024, deploying $29.2bn in a massive spending spree that touched sectors from artificial intelligence (AI) and private credit to healthcare.
Mubadala’s spending blowout accounted for roughly 20 percent of the almost $136.1bn spent by sovereign wealth funds worldwide in 2024. Mubadala overtook Saudi Arabia‘s Public Investment Fund, known as PIF, as it slowed spending and focused on investments inside the kingdom.
PIF surrendered its top spot to Mubadala as the Saudi fund cut its investment spending by 37 percent to $19.9bn in 2024 from $31.6bn the previous year, according to a report released on Wednesday by the research consultancy firm, Global SWF.
In contrast, Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala deployed $29.2bn in 2024, up from $17.5bn in 2023.
Mubadala is one of the UAE’s three main wealth funds, with a combined control of $1.7 trillion in assets. The funds are a family affair and overseen by the brothers of UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed.
The UAE’s sunglass-wearing national security advisor, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed, is chairman of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and ADQ, while Mubadala is headed by another brother, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed.
Mubadala is smaller than the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority but has played a leading role in the UAE’s investments in AI and tech. Mubadala backs the Abu Dhabi artificial intelligence group G42, which is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoun. Microsoft pledged to invest $1.5bn in the group in April 2024.
UAE looks abroad as Saudi Arabia turns inward
Mubadala also has a deep relationship with the US-based global management firm Apollo. The firm is run by American investor Marc Rowan, who was considered a contender for Treasury secretary by President-elect Donald Trump.
Mubadala has struck deals with Goldman Sachs and Apollo to invest in private credit, the increasingly lucrative world of non-bank lending.
Mubadala’s rise as the most active sovereign wealth fund spender underscores how the UAE is trying to cement its status in emerging tech sectors and finance abroad. Sovereign funds controlled by the UAE invested over $57.6bn last year, according to the report.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia’s PIF has turned inward, as it dedicates more of its funds to shoring up Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 mega-projects. PIF governor Yasir al-Rumayyan said in October that the fund would focus on the domestic Saudi market.
Saudi Arabia has had trouble luring foreign investors to its programme to reduce the kingdom’s reliance on oil revenue by diversifying its economy.
The kingdom has had to scale back Neom, originally billed as a $1.5 trillion megacity project, which organisers claim will eventually be 33 times the size of New York City and include a 170km straight-line city known as “The Line”.
Instead of 1.5 million people living in the city by 2030, Saudi officials anticipate fewer than 300,000 residents. Meanwhile, only 2.4km of the city will be completed by 2030.
Across the Middle East, however, sovereign wealth funds sharply increased spending. The most significant funds controlled by the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia invested a record $82bn in 2024, a rise of more than 10 percent from 2023.
