Mubadala signs two deals to increase investments in France

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company signed two agreements to increase investment in priority sectors in France during President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the UAE this week.

The first agreement between Mubadala and Bpifrance, the French public investment bank, will extend the co-investment partnerships between the two entities by an additional €4 billion ($4.5bn), which is to be invested over the next 10 years. Under the deal, each party will commit €2bn to the French Emirati Fund Partnership (FEF Partnership) and the Innovation Partnership, Mubadala said in a statement on Saturday.

The second agreement between Mubadala and the French Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Recovery will lead to the Abu Dhabi government potentially investing €1.4bn in funds based in France or with significant exposure to the French economy.

The two deals are part of comprehensive economic agreements worth more than €15bn between Emirati and French companies to strengthen the strategic investment partnership between the two nations, according to Mubadala.

“The strategic economic co-operation between the UAE and the French Republic, as well as our history of successfully deploying capital alongside our partners in France, underpin these new agreements,” Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Mubadala’s managing director and group chief executive, said.

“The scale of these agreements reflects the significant opportunities we see in the French economy, which is entering a new era of innovation-led growth.”

Bpifrance and Mubadala have built a strong relationship since the launch of the FEF Partnership in 2014 and the Innovation Partnership in 2017. In 2020, Mubadala also made a €1bn commitment to Bpifrance’s flagship Lac1 Fund, which is focused on investing in listed French multinational companies.

“The strategic partnership with Mubadala demonstrates France’s attractiveness and the UAE's confidence in the potential of the French economy,” Bruno Le Maire, minister of economy, finance and the recovery of the French Republic, said.

The UAE and France signed a number of deals during Mr Macron's visit. These included an agreement between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Total, as well as a contract with Technip, a French engineering company, to build an ethane cracker to expand the Borouge 4 project.

The UAE’s Ministry of Defence also signed an agreement with Dassault Aviation to buy aircraft, related products and services. It will also be purchasing H225M helicopters from Airbus.

Mubadala will continue with its investment strategy, despite short-term challenges stemming from rising interest rates and inflation, Mr Al Mubarak said at the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS 2021) last month.

“When I look at 2022, for us as Mubadala ... there’s no shift in terms of our strategy, in terms of themes in which we are investing in [and] in terms of how we look at the next five to 10-year cycle."

With $243bn of assets under management, Mubadala plays a key role in Abu Dhabi's efforts to diversify its revenue base and generate income from sources other than oil. The company’s portfolio of investments spans five continents with interests in aerospace, information and communications technology, semiconductors, metals and mining, renewable energy, oil and gas, and petrochemicals.

Mubadala is also pivoting towards investments in health care, life sciences, consumer-focused businesses, renewable energy and the mobility sectors.

In July, it invested $250 million in US biosimulation software company Certara as part of its international healthcare and investment portfolio.

In March, the fund agreed to plough £800m into Britain's life sciences industry over the next five years as part of a £1bn deal between the UK and the UAE. The UK's Life Sciences Investment Programme, which was unveiled last year, will contribute £200m to the deal.