Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund – Mubadala Investment Co – has set its sights on technology sectors in India, China and Southeast Asia for potential investments after acquiring a 1.85% stake in Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms for $1.2b.
Speaking at the Bloomberg Invest Global virtual conference, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of Mubadala, said that the place for them to build experiences and expertise is in venture space, medical technology, life sciences and artificial intelligence.
Mubadala, the second-biggest state investor in Abu Dhabi behind Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), has 9% of its portfolio invested in Asia.
ADIA has also purchased a 1.16% stake in Jio Platforms for $752m.
“We are, from a relative perspective, under-invested in Asia. So, you will see us grow our portfolio in Asia and expect us to do more in the med-tech space, artificial intelligence, life sciences and agribusiness. These are spaces we like,” Al Mubarak told Bloomberg.
Mubadala owns electronic chip manufacturing company Global Foundries and has a stake in several technology companies like AMD and has an investment portfolio across several fields, including petroleum, renewable energy, aerospace, satellite communications, agriculture, healthcare, metals and mining.
Despite selling a 34.9m shares in Advanced Micro Devices last year, Al Mubarak said that the US will continue to be an interesting place to invest in and has no plans to reduce its exposure there.
“There are high valuations in the market. If you look at, let’s say, the US market right now, it does not reflect the reality of the macro situation we see in the US,” he said.
