Abu Dhabi: Mubadala Investment Company expects its 2017 results to be extremely positive following the completion of a merger with the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), the firm’s group CEO said in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

“It was one of the easiest mergers. The challenge was more about a human capital challenge and strategy challenge of putting together a unified strategy. That was done and this was executed for over twelve months and the merger is now complete,” said Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

He also said they will be soon announcing financial results for 2017, which will be extremely positive.

Mubadala Investment Company, with total assets of $125 billion (Dh459.12 billion), is one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world.

It was formed through the merger of Mubadala Development Company and the International Petroleum Investment Company last year, and features four global business platforms including alternative investments and infrastructure; petroleum and petrochemicals; technology, manufacturing and mining and aerospace; and renewables and Information & Communications Technology (ICT).

A strong showing saw the company swing to a profit of Dh4.2 billion in the first half of 2017, from a loss of Dh4.7 billion reported during the same period last year.

Speaking about the future strategy of the firm, he said they will be aggressive in pursuing their diversification strategy to bring in positive financial results and open up new sectors.

“We are investing in [the] downstream sector in petrochemicals and also have significant exposure to the upstream side. We are also heavily investing in other sectors like health care, technology, real estate, infrastructure [and] biotechnology,” Al Mubarak said.

“We are opening new offices around the world. Today we have an office in San Francisco focusing on technology and we have an office in Brazil, which carries significant operations in South America.”

On the Mubadala merger, he said the initiative had resulted in cost efficiencies, better competitiveness and had made the company a global player.

“We need powerhouses for [the] future that can compete not only in the UAE but internationally with a strong leadership, strong management team and a firmer balance sheet.”

He also added that Abu Dhabi’s vision of diversification and economic development has become a reality, with the UAE capital managing over $1 trillion in assets.

Mubarak was speaking at the Global Financial Markets Forum which kicked off in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Speaking at the same forum, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive officer of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), said the company’s new strategy would be to partnering with firms which can add value and help in drive more efficiency and profitability.

“We do not control oil prices, but what we control is cost per barrel of our production. That will continue to be our focus. Every company that wants to come and join us will have to come with creative ways of helping us drive more efficiency and more profitability.”

When asked whether there would be more initial public offerings (IPOs) by Adnoc subsidiaries, Al Mubarak said there will be more opportunities for the financial community to engage in. He, however, did not elaborate further.

“We are going to be busy for quite some time introducing new creative ideas of helping drive costs down and [maximising] value for our shareholders.”

Al Jaber also said that they will engage more with financial institutions that have a presence on the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the capital’s international financial centre that is expanding rapidly.

“We will, as we did in the past couple of years, engage more with the financial sector and one of the criteria we will be evaluating is [whether] they [have] decided to engage physically in Abu Dhabi Global Market.”