Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala Investment Company plans to significantly expand its presence in Asia, aiming to lift the region’s share of its portfolio to nearly 25% over the next decade as part of a broader diversification drive.
Speaking at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Mohamed Albadr, Mubadala’s Head of Asia, pointed to a “paradigm shift” across the region, largely fuelled by digitalisation. Asia currently represents about 13% of Mubadala’s $330 billion in assets under management, but Albadr said the goal is to double that exposure over the next five to ten years.
North America still makes up the largest portion of Mubadala’s portfolio at around 40%, but increasing Asian investments from roughly $43 billion could see the total approach $86 billion within a decade.
Albadr said the expansion would follow a multi-pronged strategy, spanning private equity, infrastructure and real estate, as well as investments through its endowment-style platform, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council.
Private equity has been a key engine of growth, with deployment concentrated on large-scale transactions, particularly in late-stage and buyout deals.
Mubadala’s main Asian focus markets include China, Japan, South Korea and India, which Albadr described as offering a well-developed private equity ecosystem with multiple exit routes through strategic sales or capital markets.
“China is the centrepiece of our Asia portfolio,” he said, noting that Mubadala has an office in Beijing with 35 staff, alongside a joint-venture office in Hong Kong, reflecting confidence in the market’s ongoing structural reforms.
Recent China investments include Mubadala’s role in a consortium that acquired majority control of Dalian Wanda’s shopping mall unit for $8.3 billion in 2024. In the same year, it also partnered with CBC Group to take full ownership of the carved-out mature China business of UCB Pharma.
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