Mubadala Goes on a Spending Spree in 2020

The sovereign wealth fund invested $29 billion into growth sectors, including in technology, life sciences, and consumer goods. 


Sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company deployed $29 billion (AED 108 billion) in 2020. The Abu Dhabi-based allocator doubled down on investments into technology, life sciences, consumer goods, and other growth sectors during the pandemic-marred year.

The state-owned investor said it “decided to accelerate the pace of our capital deployment” from the prior year, when Mubadala invested just $18.5 billion. The fund has been diversifying its portfolio, investing both domestically and internationally to wean Abu Dhabi’s economy off its dependence on energy.  

“In line with our long-term strategy, we increased our investments in sectors where we have high conviction, and with high performing fund managers,” Mubadala Managing Director and Group CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak said in a statement. 

“Technology and life sciences in particular have been essential to the world over the last year, and we see those sectors bringing greater opportunity for deeper investment,” he added.  

Want the latest institutional investment industry
news and insights? Sign up for CIO newsletters.

This strategy, and a surge in its public equities portfolio, helped the state-owned investment group end 2020 with record profit and growth, the fund said Thursday. By December, Mubadala boasted US$243.4 billion (AED 894 billion) in assets under management (AUM), a 4.8% jump from the prior year, when it had US$232 billion (AED 853 billion). 

That trailed the US benchmark S&P 500’s total return, which jumped 18.2% last year. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq soared roughly 40% last year. 

Over the past five years, Mubadala’s portfolio has returned 9.8% yearly. “This strong performance was a reflection of our agility as an investor,” Mubadala Group Chief Financial Officer Carlos Obeid said in a statement. 

Total comprehensive income has also increased for Mubadala. Last year, the sovereign wealth fund earned $19.6 billion, versus $14.4 billion in 2019. The fund said that is the largest amount in Mubadala’s history. 

Among the direct investments and partnerships Mubadala made last year as part of its spending spree are a $1.2 billion investment into Indian telecom company Jio, a $740 million commitment into tech investor Silver Lake, a $600 million investment in pharmaceutical supplier PCI Pharma, and led a $2.25 billion funding round into Alphabet’s Waymo, the tech giant’s autonomous car subsidiary. 

The fund expects it will continue to maintain a strong cash position. At the moment, roughly one-third (34%) of the portfolio has direct and indirect investments into private equity, 29% in public markets, and 14% in real estate and infrastructure. 

Related Stories: 

Mubadala Puts $2 Billion into Silver Lake for 25-Year Strategy

Mubadala Wants to Turn Parking Lots into Hubs for Restaurants

Mubadala and Others Pledge Big Money for UK-Based AI Drug Discovery Firm

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Stanford Issues Novel Sustainability Bonds

The university says it’s the first higher-ed institution to issue bonds to reduce its adverse impact on the climate, which it plans to use to start a school focused on the environment.


Stanford University sold $375 million in environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-related public market debt securities in April to help finance various projects in the university’s capital plan. The university says the sale marked the first time a US college or university has issued bonds carrying dual climate and sustainability designations for financing campus construction and renovation projects.

The university said the securities are in the emerging ESG investment category and have been externally verified by the International Capital Markets Association’s sustainability bond designation and the Climate Bond verification, both of which are based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“This combination of bond designations represents a first, not only for Stanford but for US higher education,” Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said in a statement. “We recognize that we must operate by the same rigorous standards that we apply to research and scholarship, as we work to advance solutions to the urgent needs of our planet and society.”

Oregon-based financial consultant Kestrel Verifiers conducted an independent review that determined whether Stanford’s programs met the standards required for the bond designations.

For more stories like this, sign up for the CIO Alert newsletter.

“The projects that Stanford will finance with the bonds clearly support the advancement of health equity, improve access to housing in an undersupplied market, and sustain the entire university’s diversity and equity goals,” Kestrel CEO Monica Reid said. Reid added that the projects will help Stanford reduce greenhouse gas emissions “at a rate that exceeds internationally recognized climate action goals.”

Stanford said the new projects include a new school that will focus on climate, sustainability, and Sustainable Stanford, the university’s effort to reduce its environmental impact. The school will leverage Stanford’s climate and sustainability research, will include faculty in core departments, and will run degree-granting programs for undergraduate and graduate students.

The school is also intended to include a so-called “sustainability neighborhood” that would provide place-based education and infuse sustainability in the education of its students. Additionally, it will include an accelerator to drive new sustainability solutions through external partnerships with government, industry, and nongovernmental organizations.

Stanford’s long-term sustainability goals include committing to use 100% renewable energy sources and to have greenhouse gas emissions levels at 80% below peak by 2025, as well as producing zero waste by 2030. It said it will reach its 80% greenhouse gas reduction goal three years ahead of time when a new solar facility comes online in 2022.  

Related Stories:

Stanford, Princeton Endowments Return 5.6% Each in 2020

John Powers, Former CEO of Stanford Management Company, Dies at 67

Green Bond Issuance Sets New Record in 2020

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

«