Qatar sovereign fund boosts its stake in Monumental Sports

The Qatar Investment Authority has increased its stake in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the owner of U.S. teams including the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, alongside private equity sports investor Arctos Partners.

The QIA and Arctos are purchasing the passive minority shares from Laurene Powell Jobs, the billionaire philanthropist and wife of the late Apple Founder Steve Jobs, at a reported enterprise value of $7.2 billion. While it is not clear how much equity each party is taking, Jobs bought about 20% of Monumental in 2017 and was the group’s second biggest shareholder after founder Ted Leonsis. She reportedly sold some of her holdings in a previous deal.

When the QIA purchased a 5% stake in Monumental in 2023 in a deal that valued the group at $4 billion, it marked the first time a sovereign wealth fund had invested in major U.S. sports teams. Along with the Wizards and Mystics, the group owns the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the G League’s Capital City Go-Go and Monumental Sports Network.

The deal comes as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is reported to have made its first major investment move into padel, a fast-growing sport that has so far been largely bankrolled by the QIA, which owns the primary global padel tour, Premier Padel. PIF-backed sport and entertainment agency 54 has allied with the team-based Hexagon Cup tournament and the International Padel Federation to create a new global team circuit, the Hexagon World Series.

Meanwhile, Manchester City FC, the English Premier League soccer club owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, the UAE Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister, has reported a loss of £9.9 million ($13 million) for 2024-25, after a lackluster season – the first time in eight years it finished without a trophy. 

“There is no doubt that last season’s football results were less than we had hoped for,” Manchester City Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who is also Managing Director and Group CEO of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala sovereign wealth fund, said. “Seasons like this are an inevitable part of the game”. 

MGX joins Silver Lake in buyout of Intel’s Altera chip business

Abu Dhabi-owned MGX agreed to co-invest with private equity firm Silver Lake and a group of partners in acquiring 51% of Intel’s programmable chip business, Altera.

The deal, which was announced on Tuesday after being completed on Sept. 12, values Altera at about $8.75 billion. The investor group led by Silver Lake paid approximately $3.3 billion for its majority stake.

The size of MGX’s individual investment was not immediately disclosed. Under the agreement, Intel will retain a 49% ownership in Altera (not to be confused with the UAE climate investment fund, Altérra).

MGX, founded last year by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala sovereign wealth fund and tech company G42, said the deal aligns with its strategy to invest in the world’s most promising AI developers.

“Altera provides a foundational platform for next-generation computing,” Omar Alismail, MGX Chief Investment Officer, Semiconductors and Infrastructure, said in a statement. “This is an opportunity to scale a company of such significance into a true global leader for the AI era.”

The deal is one of the first in the semiconductor sector for MGX, which has set a goal to build its assets under management to at least $100 billion.

New fund aims to promote Chinese expansion in Middle East

Abu Dhabi-based BlueFive Capital and China International Capital Corp.’s private equity arm are preparing a new fund to support Chinese companies aiming to expand in the Middle East.

The proposed investment vehicle will target sectors where Chinese firms can build up operations across the Gulf region, leveraging both capital and regional market access, Bloomberg reports.

While details regarding the fund’s size and timeline remain undisclosed, the move reflects growing financial collaboration between Chinese investors and Gulf economies.

The planned fund is positioned to facilitate business expansion by offering both strategic and financial resources to participating Chinese companies.

Kuwait sovereign fund chief says he’s worried about private equity

Amid the influx of private equity firms to the Gulf’s financial capitals, the head of Kuwait’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund says the industry must be handled with caution.

Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha Wednesday, Sheikh Saoud Salem Al-Sabah, Managing Director of the Kuwait Investment Authority, warned that some international money managers are struggling to return funds to investors because of inflated valuations.

“Private equity is very troubled, I believe, especially in the large buyouts, venture capital and the rise of continuation vehicles,” Sheikh Saoud said in a panel discussion on the second day of the three-day conference. “That’s a very worrying sign.”

The KIA is the second largest sovereign wealth fund in the Gulf, trailing the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and slightly ahead of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

The region’s six biggest funds oversee assets of about $4 trillion, and many of them have historically been significant backers of private equity firms, according to Bloomberg, the chief media partner for the annual Doha summit, which is underwritten by the Qatari government.

Also speaking at the conference today was Steven Mnuchin, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary and present Managing Partner of Liberty Strategic Capital, who counseled patience in trade negotiations with China.

“If the U.S. can level the playing field and get better access for the country’s businesses in China, the opportunity is massive,” he said.

Days after U.S. President Donald Trump returned to Washington from a trip that took him to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, his son Donald Trump Jr. appeared at the Doha conference and said The Trump Organization won’t “do direct deals” with foreign government entities.

While his father has been criticized for entertaining an offer from the government of Qatar to receive a $400 million Boeing 747 plane as a gift to replace Air Force One, the younger Trump said the family business is being cautious about its international connections. 

“We’re going to play by the rules and it’s as simple as that,” he said.

Private equity investing in Saudi Arabia reached $4 billion in 2023

Private equity investing is blasting off in Saudi Arabia. After crossing the $1 billion threshold in 2022 and growing nearly 6X in the prior year, the industry quadrupled to $4 billion in 2023 across 30 deals, according to new data from Magnitt.

The kingdom is at a “pivotal intersection,” Huda Al Lawati, Founder & CEO of Gulf-based investment manager Aliph Capital, said in Magnitt’s report.

She said Saudi Arabia’s traditionally entrepreneurial private sector is meeting with economic diversification efforts led by the government to create a flood of investment opportunities and potential for growth, providing opportunities in tourism, sports, and logistics. 

Buyout transactions have been the main driver of private equity growth from 2020 through 2023.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund accounted for the largest number of transactions, totaling 18, most of which were reported in 2022 and 2023.

Active investors with four-plus deals done are all Saudi-based firms: Asyaf Investments, GAIC, and BATIC, according to Magnitt.

Newer players in PE in the kingdom with two to three deals completed include Investcorp, Marek Capital and Blominvest.