Mubadala plays pivotal role in UAE’s progress, national economy: Mansour

His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Presidential Court, and Chairman of the Mubadala Investment Company Board, affirmed that the company has been contributing for over two decades to supporting the UAE National Agenda and enhancing the development journey of the UAE.

“Alongside its active and constructive contribution to the global economy, Mubadala adopts a forward-looking vision aimed at developing a knowledge-based and innovative national economy,” Sheikh Mansour added.

In the opening speech of Mubadala Investment Company’s 2023 Annual Report, Sheikh Mansour said that President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has played a pivotal role in creating quality opportunities for human resources in Mubadala during his leadership of the company in an important stage of its growth journey, forging strong and solid global relationships and partnerships worldwide.

He added that the priorities in the coming decades focus on achieving continuous expansion of the UAE’s economy and enhancing its connection with the global economy.

He said, “Mubadala and its global partners have succeeded during the past year in achieving several accomplishments across key business sectors in various parts of the world.”

Sheikh Mansour pointed out that as part of this strategic direction, Mubadala was keen during 2023 to continue expanding its global investments in sectors contributing to shaping the future, such as artificial intelligence, clean energy, life sciences, private credit, and advanced manufacturing.

He stated that the company, through its investments in all these sectors, continued to solidify the competitive edge of the UAE, supporting its national strategy aimed at establishing new global value chains that enhance the country’s presence and position as a nexus between the East and West, and between its northern and southern regions.

He added that Mubadala’s investments in these sectors are based on a commitment to partnership and responsible investing, which is in line with the UAE’s dedication to enhancing international cooperation, advancing its interests, and promoting global progress.

Sheikh Mansour highlighted Mubadala’s efforts in providing opportunities for Emirati nationals and residents from over 200 different nationalities.

He said, “We are pleased to see many outstanding individuals who began their careers in the company, now leading institutions and vital initiatives that contribute to shaping the future of our national economy, and our leadership in globally significant fields and issues.”

Sheikh Mansour added that Mubadala’s achievements contribute to driving the paths of development in the UAE and enhancing them.

He expressed his gratitude to Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Mubadala Investment Company, his team, and their global partners, for their steadfast commitment to leading its journey amid complex global challenges.

“I am pleased to continue leading the company alongside my brothers on the board of directors during this important stage, in which the UAE advances with ambitious and confident steps, relying on the exceptional legacy and insightful vision of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan,” Sheikh Mansour said.

Mubadala Investment Company has released its 2023 financial results for the Group.

Mubadala grew its portfolio with assets under management (AUM) reaching more than Dhs1.1 trillion, compared to more than Dhs1.01 trillion in 2022 - a 9.45% increase, in a year marked by persistent global inflation and sporadic disruptions to supply chains.

In line with its strategy of focusing on innovation-centric industries, Mubadala deployed Dhs89 billion into a range of sectors shaping the future, including artificial intelligence, technology, digital infrastructure, life sciences and clean energy, while growing its private credit business. The company capitalised on market opportunities to execute on its monetisation strategy, generating total proceeds of Dhs99 billion for the year.

Mubadala built on its role as a global investor through opportunistic capital deployment in North America, Asia and Europe in sectors key to regional growth.

Investments to accelerate the transformation of the UAE economy through AI-enabled innovation in sectors such as healthcare and space technology remained central to Mubadala’s strategy.

Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak said, “Mubadala had a strong year across the portfolio, making investments in areas essential to growth and innovation around the world. Our foundational investments in industries shaping the future are positioning Mubadala as a global investor in solutions to support human progress. Globally, we continue to strengthen our presence and partnerships in key markets, ramping up investments across a range of sectors.”

In the UAE, Mubadala founded two new businesses alongside Abu Dhabi’s technology group G42. Space42 is a home-grown space and satellite technology champion, created through the merger of its satellite company Yahsat and AI-enabled geospatial solutions company Bayanat.

Mubadala and G42 also made strategic investments in the growing healthcare sector including the creation of M42, a first-of-its-kind, tech-enabled, integrated healthcare company.

Mubadala and G42 are also foundational partners in Abu Dhabi’s MGX, a comprehensive investment vehicle to accelerate the development and adoption of AI and advanced technologies.

Mubadala invested in Aligned, one of the fastest-growing data centre providers in the Americas. Through its portfolio company Mubadala Capital, Mubadala announced it would acquire Fortress, a world-leading investment manager, from the Softbank Group.

Mubadala also completed the acquisition of its stake in GlobalConnect, a leading fiber-based data communication and data centre services provider serving enterprises, public institutions, and consumers in Northern Europe.

Masdar, the global clean energy powerhouse established by Mubadala in 2006 closed on a 50% stake in the Big Beau combined solar and battery storage in California from EDF Renewables North America.

In Asia, GlobalFoundries - which was created by Mubadala in 2009 - announced the official opening of a US$4 billion semiconductor fabrication plant in Singapore.

Mubadala also invested alongside KKR in CoolIT Systems, a leading provider of scalable liquid cooling solutions for the world’s most demanding computing environments and invested in Osstem dental care in South Korea.

Mubadala Energy also made one of the largest natural gas discoveries in Indonesia, in December, with the potential of up to 170 billion cubic meters.

Mubadala expanded its private credit business during the year. Mubadala and Ares formed a joint venture, aiming to deploy approximately US$1 billion to capitalise on the anticipated growth and substantial demand for customised liquidity solutions for the credit secondaries asset class.

With Ares and Aldar, Mubadala also established a new strategic partnership to jointly invest US$1 billion in European private real estate credit. Mubadala also created a long-term partnership with Apollo to invest alongside partners up to AED9 billion over the next five years in credit opportunities.

Group Chief Financial Officer Carlos Obeid said, “In 2023, global markets experienced significant turbulence across various sectors and industries, driven by rising interest rates, inflationary pressures, geopolitical tensions, and supply chain disruptions. Despite these challenges, our five-year rate of return stood at 10.3%.”

Obeid added, “Complementary to our growth in AUM, 2023 marked a year of prudent debt raising where we successfully executed almost AED30 billion of funding commitments obtained across a diverse range of products, strategically issued to refinance maturing debt, and to also to support Mubadala’s investment activities in line with our exciting growth plans.

As part of these debt issuances, we successfully executed our inaugural Green Bond in October following the establishment of our Green Financing framework to commemorate Mubadala’s decision to align with the UAE’s commitment to Net-Zero by 2050, during COP28. We continue to maintain a relatively interest rate immune debt portfolio with a conservative gearing ratio of 10.3% and a strong liquidity position to navigate through this cycle.”

Mubadala does not release annual data irrelevant to a long-term investor, such as annual revenue or net income, or Total Comprehensive Income, instead using a multi-year metric, which it began to disclose in 2021.