Mubadala Capital and BlackRock form partnership across private equity funds

Mubadala Capital, the asset management subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company managing a $243 billion portfolio, has announced a significant investment into its Private Equity business led by BlackRock’s Secondaries and Liquidity Solutions group (BlackRock) and a consortium of global institutional investors.

The BlackRock-led consortium’s investment was made into a portfolio of assets currently managed by Mubadala Capital, in addition to a $400 million commitment into Mubadala Capital’s third private equity fund (Fund III). Fund III recently exceeded its fundraising target and held its final close at $1.6 billion.

The partnership between Mubadala Capital and BlackRock was formed in parallel with the successful final close of BlackRock’s $3 billion Secondaries & Liquidity Solutions (SLS) strategy, which is among the largest fundraises for an inaugural private equity secondaries strategy globally to date.

BlackRock’s SLS strategy aims to lead and invest opportunistically in mid-sized secondary transactions, and SLS led this transaction with significant interest and involvement from various strategic partners and co-investors. BlackRock’s team developed conviction around Mubadala Capital and the underlying portfolio, which BlackRock believes will be a key and core investment in its SLS strategy.

Adib Martin Mattar, head of Private Equity at Mubadala Capital, said: “BlackRock’s institutional approach to underwriting and partnership-orientation has helped create what we expect to be a landmark transaction, especially in a highly uncertain market environment. We are looking forward to a long-term partnership with BlackRock SLS and all participating investors.”

Veena Isaac, MD of the BlackRock Secondaries and Liquidity Solutions team, said: “Completing this investment was highly collaborative between BlackRock, our partners and Mubadala Capital. We look forward to being a limited partner and continuing to explore further ways to collaborate with Mubadala Capital in what is clearly a highly differentiated investment platform that has demonstrated an ability to leverage its sovereign access and network for the benefit of its investors.”

Mubadala Capital manages $9 billion of assets in third-party managed funds across its private equity, public equities, venture capital and Brazil businesses, and is the first sovereign wealth fund to manage third-party capital on behalf of other institutional investors. The growth of Mubadala Capital as a global asset management firm with headquarters in Abu Dhabi and a focus on international investment activities is a further testament of Mubadala’s entrepreneurial approach to business building and a continued diversification away from a reliance on natural resources.

In addition to successful exits in EMI Music Publishing and Restaurant Brands International, Mubadala Capital has a strong track record of strategically leveraging the secondary market to seek attractive returns for its existing investors and to forge new relationships with leading firms such as BlackRock.

business@khaleejtimes.com