Abu Dhabi's funds drove almost half of MENA sovereign dealmaking this year, led by Mubadala

Mubadala was the most acquisitive sovereign wealth fund in 9M 2026 at USD 26.2 bn, counting capital deployed by ADIC, Mubadala Capital and MGX, which took part in the multi-bn financing rounds at OpenAI, Anthropic, and Databricks, according to Global SWF’s 2026 MENA Playbook. PIF follows at USD 14.0 bn, then Abu Dhabi Investment Authority at USD 12.2 bn, L’imad at USD 10.8 bn, and QIA at USD 10.3 bn. The three Abu Dhabi funds account for almost half of the USD 102 bn MENA sovereign investors put to work across 245 transactions.

MENA sovereign funds’ investments accounted for 39% of all dealmaking by state-owned investors globally, coming in below where the region sat in 2023-25 in both total value and global share.

Almost every major UAE fund is on track to beat its 2020-25 annual average. Mubadala is projected to hit USD 35 bn this year against an average of USD 21.7 bn, and L'imad USD 14.3 bn against USD 9.3 bn. Dubai Holding is set for USD 8.7 bn, more than double its USD 3.6 bn average. The outlier is ICD: Dubai's main SWF has deployed just USD 0.1 bn so far, against an annual average of USD 0.7 bn, and is rebuilding its investment leadership after Francois Cohas' departure.

The UAE is also where much of the money lands: It was the second-largest destination for MENA sovereign capital at USD 18.2 bn, including what UAE funds deployed at home. Only the US drew more, at USD 45.6 bn, and the UAE finished well ahead of China including Hong Kong (USD 10.2 bn) and the UK (USD 6.9 bn).

As the Gulf caught its breath, the rest of the world’s SWFs sped up. The region lost ground relative to the global total as sovereign and pension funds outside the region invested USD 160 bn by the end of 3Q 2026, totaling more than they managed in all of 2025, according to the report.

At the current pace, MENA funds are set to finish the year with a total of USD 136 bn deployed. That would come in short of the record 2025 total — although the total was inflated by PIF’s takeover of EA. Dealcount is projected to close at 327, second only to 2019, pushed by smaller and more frequent technology cheques.

Technology, including AI rounds, made up 28% of deal volume and almost 30% of value, ahead of infrastructure at 22% and financial services at 14%. Real estate fell to 5% of volume and 11% of value.

Governments are now starting to draw on the funds themselves, with Global SWF expecting industry assets to possibly drop for the first time since 2015. Kuwait reported a USD 23.1 bn budget deficit in 1Q 2026, and Qatar’s 2Q 2026 deficit came in at USD 5.8 bn, which the firm reads as pointing to fresh withdrawals from KIA and the first tap of QIA.

The AUM outlook: MENA SWFs manage USD 6.1 tn today, and the firm still sees that reaching USD 8.8 tn by 2030.