Over the past three decades, I have had the privilege of working closely with all of the Gulf sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and been able to watch their evolution from a front-row seat. But, even within this perspective, the latest data is striking. According to a recent Deloitte report, SWFs based in the GCC invested an extraordinary $82 billion in 2023 followed by another $55 billion in just the first nine months of 2024. This accounted for roughly two-thirds of all sovereign wealth fund investment worldwide.

The Gulf SWFs are no longer content with simply being passive global investors. They are shaping markets and forging new corridors of influence. It is projected that GCC SWFs will control no less than $18 trillion in assets by 2030. This represents a 50% increase from today.

The sheer scale of these numbers is remarkable but the direction of travel is equally significant. And one of the most interesting developments is the SWFs’ recent strategic pivot towards Asia generally and particularly China. For instance, in 2024 ADIA led an $8.3 billion investment into Dalian Wanda’s shopping mall subsidiary partnering with Mubadala and others. ADIA has also made investments into a major Chinese e-commerce player. These are not just isolated moves but part of a broader rebalancing of investment strategy towards the fast-growing Asian economies.

PIF, ADIA, ADQ, Mubadala, and QIA - the foremost institutions spearheading this transformation - are strategically deploying their financial strength to deepen engagement with Asia with the aim of building durable alliances anchored in the region’s demographic dynamism and tech-driven growth.

All of these themes featured prominently in discussions I held last week with investment banks, companies and commentators in Hong Kong. One senior partner at a regional private equity firm told me “We used to court exclusively Asian and Western LPs. Now, everyone’s asking how to align with Gulf capital.” The sentiment is increasingly shared and it is no longer just about inflows. It is about building strategic alignment for the long term.

Many Asian institutions and investors are now planning delegations to visit the Gulf this year seeking not only capital but shared insight, cross-border deal flow and joint ventures that will offer some level of resilience in a shifting geopolitical and economic environment.

It is rare to witness a shift of such magnitude from so close. However, it is absolutely clear that cooperation between Gulf SWFs and Asian investors is not only increasing rapidly in scale but also redefining the impact of global reach on both sides.

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