The UAE is the world’s third-largest country to house state-owned investors (SOIs) with $2.5 trillion assets (Dh9.17 trillion) after the US ($12.12 trillion) and China ($3.36 trillion), according to Global SWF’s first-half 2025 report.
The other top countries in the list are Japan ($2.22 trillion), Norway ($1.9 trillion), Canada ($1.86 trillion), Singapore ($1.59 trillion), Australia ($1.53 trillion), Saudi Arabia ($1.53 trillion) and South Korea ($1.17 trillion).
SOIs include sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and public pension funds (PPFs). In the UAE, top government-backed investors are Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), Mubadala, ADQ, Investment Corporate of Dubai, Emirates Investment Authority, Sharjah Asset Management, RAK Investment Authority, Dubai World and others.
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In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), 23 funds are managing $5.9 trillion in assets.
The GCC sovereign wealth funds became more active this year, accounting for approximately 36 per cent or $21-billion of total capital deployed by SWFs in the first half of 2025.
Sovereign wealth funds globally deployed $58.8 billion in 133 deals during January-June 2025. Middle Eastern SWFs — mostly GCC — represented 36 per cent of the investments in H1 2025, up from 32 per cent in the second half of 2024, according to the first-half 2025 report released by Global SWF.
Mubadala and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) were among the 10 most active sovereign wealth funds during the first six months of 2025, investing $9.6 billion and $4.5 billion, respectively. Mubadala was the second most active fund, while Adia was ranked 10th in terms of deployment.
In 2024, Mubadala was the top SWF investor globally, deploying $29.2 billion.
Among the Gulf SWFs, ADQ, Mubadala, Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) turned more domestic than previously in the first six months of 2025, according to data recorded by Global SWF.
Gulf sovereign wealth funds were quite active when it comes to mega deals.
In 2025 so far, Global SWF said it saw 41 mega deals of over $1 billion in value invested or divested by sovereign investors. Some of the largest transactions included Canada’s CDPQ’s $7 billion takeover of renewable energy leader Innergex, Kuwait Investment Authority’s (KIA) and Temasek’s multi-billion commitment to AI Infrastructure Partnership, Dubai Holding’s $3.6 billion investment in British school chain Nord Anglia, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s (ADIA) and Canadian CPP’s $3.4 billion co-investment in Sweden’s IFS, and Mubadala’s multi-billion, two-way deal with TWG Global.
In the first six months of 2025, five new SWFS were established: Uzbekistan’s NIF, Taiwan’s SWF, Mongolia’s Chinggis Fund (merging FSF and FHF), Eswatini’s ESWF, and Indonesia’s Danantara.
“Sadly, in the past 2.5 years, we have also witnessed five funds being dismantled, including Armenia’s ANIF, Djibouti’s FSD, and Mauritius’ MIC,” it said.
