Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala Investment Company, intends to expand technology exposure following the latest $1.2 billion investment in India’s Jio Platforms of Reliance Industries.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Mubadala Investment Company, while speaking at a virtual conference said, “We need to be much more exposed to technology in all its facets. We’re on the right track.”
The investment company is planning to increase its exposure to the technology market, focusing on Asia. His comments come just weeks after the Abu Dhabi Fund took a $1.2 billion stake in India’s Jio Platforms.
Technology, in particular venture space, medical technology, life sciences and artificial intelligence, is “the way to go,” believes Al Mubarak. “That’s the arena for us to build experiences and expertise in and to deploy significant capital”, he added.
The $232 billion fund is looking at India, China and Southeast Asia for future investment. “We are, from a relative perspective, under-invested in Asia. So you’ll see us grow our portfolio in Asia and expect us to do more in the med-tech space, artificial intelligence, life sciences, agribusiness. These are spaces we like”.
Mubadala has just 9% of its portfolio invested in Asia while it has invested 38% of its portfolio in the U.S.
“There has been a shift in the investment committee’s risk appetite since it’s retreat to safety in the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Mubarak said.
“I believe we have to now transition to the mode of living with COVID,” he said. He concluded on the note that Mubadala will become a much more sophisticated technology investor in the coming four or five years.
