Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala to oversee new UAE investments into UK

Dubai: Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala will oversee a £10 billion investment flow into the UK in three priority sectors - technology, infrastructure, and energy transition - as well as build further in life sciences.

This follows an agreement between UK’s Office for Investment (OfI) and Mubadala Investment Company, at Downing Street, to significantly expand the UAE-UK Sovereign Investment Partnership (UAE-UK SIP), a framework which was announced in March last. Over the next five years, the UAE-UK SIP will drive a significant increase in these investments.

As part of the agreement, the UAE has committed £10 billion via the UAE-UK SIP, overseen by the OfI and Mubadala. This builds on Mubadala’s £800 million commitment and the UK Government’s £200 million to UK life sciences signed in March.

From today, the UAE-UK SIP will become the central investment platform under the new Partnership for the Future bilateral framework.

"It is a testament to the UK's innovation economy that we are ahead of target with the UAE-UK SIP life sciences programme, which we announced in March of this year," said Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Mubadala Managing Director and Group CEO. We are already developing ambitious energy transition, technology and infrastructure investment programmes that create new jobs and strengthen commercial ties between our nations."

To date, over £1.1 billion has been deployed since the SIP was launched in March.

Room to grow

The UAE-UK trade was valued at £18.6 billion in 2019, while two-way investment came to £13.4 billion the same year. The Partnership for the Future builds on “historical ties” to formalise and guide trade, investment, and innovation relations between the UAE and the UK. It will also establish collaborations across priorities, including climate change, education, regional stability, and food security.

Multiple UAE and UK institutions will invest under the UAE-UK SIP overseen by the OfI and Mubadala, with “opportunities prioritised against investment criteria and the potential to support job creation in both countries, strengthen national research and development capabilities and originate new areas of investment collaboration and economic links”.

According to the UK Minister for Investment, Gerry Grimstone, “There’s never been a better time to be taking part and investing in the UK. It’s great to see the Office for Investment together with Mubadala Investment Company deliver what we initially set out to do, and expanding into new verticals that will drive economic growth across the UK.”