Riyadh - Sharikat Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) emerged as the world’s most active sovereign wealth fund in 2023 with $31.6 billion deployed in 49 deals, 33% more than in 2022, a recent report revealed.
In its 2024 annual report titled ‘State-Owned Investors Powering Through Crises’, the Global SWF forecasted the PIF to lead the ranking in 2030, with $2 trillion of assets under management (AuM).
The sovereign fund was a heavy hitter locally and globally as it pursued frequent deals and JVs in the Kingdom to keep advancing the domestic economy toward Vision 2030.
In 2023, the PIF concluded momentous deals as it paid $4.9 billion for Scopely via its subsidiary Savvy Games Group and acquired Standard Chartered’s aircraft leasing division in a $3.6 billion deal, via AviLease.
Furthermore, the Saudi fund concluded a deal to purchase SABIC’s steel unit Hadeed for $3.3 billion in addition to other diverse deals with Nintendo, Vale Basic Materials, Heathrow Airport, and Rocco Forte Hotels.
Along with the PIF, four other Gulf funds were among the top 10 most active dealmakers globally, including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Mubadala, ADQ, and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).
The Gulf sovereign wealth fund (SWFs) have increased their domination of the global transaction activity, to the detriment of Singaporean and Canadian funds, capturing 40% of all investment value deployed by sovereign investors.
Global SWF tracks 653 state-owned investors (SOIs), including sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), public pension funds (PPFs,) and central banks (CBs), which jointly manage $49.7 trillion in assets.
