Mubadala bullish on investment strategy as it builds on record 2021 performance

Mubadala Investment Company's chief executive is upbeat about the success of the Abu Dhabi fund's investment strategy in the decades ahead after posting the best annual results in the company’s 20-year history.

The 70 per cent rise in comprehensive income to Dh122 billion ($33.2bn) in 2021 comfortably tops Dh72bn in 2020, which was also a record year, when the sovereign fund boosted assets and returns despite the dramatic pandemic-driven macroeconomic decline.

Two years of record performance are testament to the company's investment ethos of a long-term view and the evolution and alignment of Mubadala's portfolio with changing economic dynamics. A pivot to technology and life science, while nurturing some of its legacy assets to generate consistent returns, has been at the heart of the company's investment strategy.

“It has been our long-term strategy that has supported not just the results for last year, but also our portfolio’s resilience over the long term,” Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Mubadala’s group chief executive and managing director, told The National.

“It's the progress we've made in the last 20 years that makes me enthusiastic for the decades ahead.”

Assets under management for the first time climbed beyond the trillion-dirham threshold to reach Dh1.04tn at the end of 2021, from Dh894bn a year earlier. The fund invested Dh125bn during 2021 in key sectors in the UAE and abroad.

In January, Mubadala bagged the global sovereign wealth fund industry’s top honour, becoming the “2021 Fund of the Year”, in recognition of its investment acumen and the part it has played in helping the industry to grow despite economic headwinds.

The award, from industry tracker Global SWF, is also an acknowledgement of Mubadala’s high level of deal activity in 2021, partnerships it has forged with governments and investment entities across the globe, and the crucial role it has played at home in the economic recovery.

At the end of the last year, 34 per cent of Mubadala’s portfolio comprised of direct and indirect investments in private equity, with 31 per cent in public markets and 14 per cent in real estate and infrastructure, among others.

Some of the major deals and partnerships Mubadala struck in 2021 include the listing of its wholly-owned semiconductor manufacturing unit GlobalFoundries, in a $2.6bn initial public offering on the Nasdaq. It also listed Yahsat on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange in a deal that raised $731 million.

Last year, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Taqa also became shareholders in Masdar with Mubadala to boost the clean energy company's renewable power capacity to more than 50 gigawatts by 2030.

“2021 was an extraordinary year, marking 20 years of Mubadala's operations as a company and with major milestones across key sectors for the UAE,” Mr Al Mubarak said.

“I'm proud of the significant achievements for the UAE: taking Yahsat public on the ADX, creating a greater champion for renewables in Masdar and continuing to develop a world-class health network for Abu Dhabi.”

The list of achievements by Mubadala — which is at the heart of Abu Dhabi’s efforts to diversify its economy — over the last two decades is long. Below are some of the milestones the company has achieved so far.