Mubadala is one step closer to acquiring a majority stake in Fortress: The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (Cfius) granted approval for Mubadala Capital to acquire a 70% majority stake in US asset manager Fortress, after agreeing to concessions regarding data security and operational control, the Financial Times reports, citing three people with knowledge of the matter. The US investor manages some USD 48 bn assets, with significant investments in US rail infrastructure.

The concessions: Mubadala agreed to ensure that data and technology associated with the company to stay within the US, while also relinquishing day-to-day management of Fortress, according to the FT.

The acquisition has been a long time coming: Mubadala and Fortress’ management had agreed to buy a 90% stake from Fortress’ parent company, Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank, in May 2023. The Financial Times had previously reported that Cfius was scrutinizing the transaction last July, amid concerns over the UAE’s ties to China.

Background:

The UAE has had to toe the line with the US over several Chinese investments: State AI group G42 had offloaded all its stakes in Chinese businesses in a bid to appease US partners, including a USD 100 mn stake in TikTok parent company ByteDance. The company was also prepared to give up use of Huawei equipment. These moves made way for a USD 1.5 bn investment from Microsoft in April.

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