The United Arab Emirates said Thursday it will invest £10 billion ($13.9 billion) in U.K. companies through expansion of a partnership between its sovereign wealth fund and the U.K.'s Office for Investment.
Mubadala Investment Corp. will make the investment over the next five years and will focus on sectors such as energy transition, infrastructure and technology. The deal is an expansion of a "sovereign investment partnership" established in March between the two countries.
The investment will be overseen by the U.K. Office for Investment and Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund with $243 billion in assets that invests on behalf of the government of Abu Dhabi. The March investment amounted to £1 billion.
"Today's expansion of our Sovereign Investment Partnership will help accelerate funding and innovation in key sectors that are foundational to economic growth of both nations," Khaldoon Al Mubarak, managing director and group CEO at Mubadala, said in a news release Thursday.
"It is a testament to the U.K.'s innovation economy that we are ahead of target with the UAE-UK SIP life sciences program, which we announced in March of this year. We are already developing ambitious energy transition, technology and infrastructure investment programs that create new jobs and strengthen commercial ties between our nations," he added.
Gerry Grimstone, U.K.'s minister for investment, added in the release: "This partnership has gone from strength to strength and its expansion is evidence of its effectiveness and what we can achieve with important trade and investment partners like the UAE through investment. The partnership will expand the exchange of knowledge, skills and ideas that will drive prosperity in both nations."
