Middle East: how sovereign funds redraw the world economic power card

Less than a decade. This is the time that remains before the sovereign funds of the Gulf become the dominant players in the management of assets on a global scale. By 2030, sovereign funds of the Middle East should combine Nearly $ 18,000 billion under managementor an unprecedented part in the contemporary history of international capital. Already, more than half of the ten most powerful world swfs come from the region.

This quantitative tilting is accompanied by a qualitative change. These funds are no longer content to arbitrate between asset classes. They design, finance, operate and interconnect Complete economic ecosystemson a regional and global scale. Their strategy goes beyond the logic of oil diversification. She aims to Master critical assets of the post-industrial world.

While investment flows now extend to energy, digital, physical infrastructure, culture, financial platforms or logistics chains, a central question emerges: What will this $ 18,000 billion empire be made in less than five years? And above all, What economic world will he register in?

An extended and structured investment spectrum

The analysis of recent operations shows a methodical deployment in the pillars of 21st century economic sovereignty. Each fund targets different assets, but serving the same objective: to constitute a sustainable infrastructure.

Here, by actor, a summary of structuring investments:

Public Investment Fund (Pif – Saudi Arabia)

• • 15 % in Heathrow Airport ($ 2.1 MD)
  • $ 1 MD in Dazn (Sports streaming)
  • $ 3.5 MD for Scoplygame editor who bought Pokémon Go
  • $ 100 million envisaged in Air Asia Company Limited
  • Support for a regional platform of $ 2 billion with Brookfield
  • Partner of a regional fund of $ 5 billion with Blackrock

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia)

• • $ 1 MD in Qlik (Data Analytics), with Thoma Bravo
  • $ 7 billion for Hargreaves Lansdownwith CVC and Nordic Capital
  • Co-investment with Blackstone in Coven ($ 4.6 billion)
  • Minority participation in Zendesk ($ 10.2 billion), alongside Permira and Hellman & Friedman

Mubadala (United Arab Emirates)

• • Acquisition of CI Financial (Canadian asset management) for $ 12.1 billion
  • Participation of $ 2 billion in Binance via MGX, entity founded by Mubadala
  • Redemption of Fortress Investment Group (Softbank), valued $ 3 billion
  • Investment in Yondr Group (Datacenters developer)
  • $ 436 million in a ETF Bitcoin In partnership with BlackRock

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA)

• • € 2.4 billion in Rwebecoming main shareholder
  • Participation in Celonisvalued $ 13 billion, alongside Capital Actors and Neuberger Berman
  • Project support Audi F1 In view of an entry into Formula 1 in 2026
  • Investor in xai (lifting of $ 6 billion), alongside Kingdom Holding and OIA

ADQ (United Arab Emirates)

• • Launching a $ 25 billion platform with ECP (energy and infrastructure)
  • Joint venture with Orion Resource Partners For strategic metals
  • Acquisition of $ 1 MD of new shares at Sotheby’s

A structuring sectoral approach

Far from an opportunistic logic, the gulf investments respond to a rigorous sectoral strategy. There are five main verticals:

1. 1. Strategic infrastructure : airports, energy, datacenters, minerals – to alertly anchor their influence in global logistics chains.
   2. Technologies and software : analytics, process, CRM solutions – to capture value on critical digital infrastructure.
   3. Natural resources : transition energies, metals – to secure access to key inputs of the decarbonized economy.
   4. Investment capital : By becoming co-management of funds (Blackrock, Brookfield), they influence global investment flows.
   5. Entertainment, sport, culture : games, sport, AI, art – to extend their influence on collective imagination and global consumption.

These investments are not partitioned. They respond to a logic oftransversal integration. By investing in content, distribution networks, physical infrastructure and economic governance tools, Gulf funds reproduce the logics of verticalization Already observed in large technological firms.

A new grammar of capital

What is played out here goes beyond the simple reallocation of assets. This is a change in grammar of capital. Gulf states, via their investment vehicles, structure global conglomerates capable of mastering entire segments of the economy: from energy flow to data processing, global sport to critical metals.

The projection is clear: to become not only capital holders, but also economic infrastructure referees. In a fragmented geopolitical context, this mastery of patient, interconnected and multisectoral capital becomes a major weapon of influence.