GCC-based wealth funds have continued their strong show, with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) consolidated net profit surging by 152% in 2025, reaching SR65.1 billion, compared with SR25.8 billion in 2024.
“The strong growth was driven by higher revenues, improved overall operational performance, lower administrative expenses, and a stronger contribution from associated companies to profits,” PIF stated while announcing its consolidated financial statements, which also got published on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
“PIF’s net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company also rose sharply to SR46.4 billion, compared with SR11.2 billion in the previous year—nearly four times its earlier level. This reflects the improved efficiency of the fund’s investment portfolio,” the entity remarked further.
PIF has continued to expand its asset base and strategic investments at an accelerated pace. While total assets increased from SR720 billion in 2017 to SR4.54 trillion by the end of 2025, the sovereign wealth fund has an ambitious target of reaching SR10 trillion in assets under management (AuM) by 2030.
The AuM growth was also underpinned by a 9% increase in the fund’s total revenues to SR449 billion, driven by higher operating income and stronger returns from a diverse range of investment activities. This reflects the continued maturation of its long-term investments, while operating profit surged by 125% to reach SR 78 billion by 2025.
The UAE’s Mubadala, on the other hand, ended up deploying USD 15.2 billion in the first six months of 2026 despite market volatility triggered by the Iran war and the supply chain disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz, making it the most active sovereign wealth fund, data intelligence platform Global SWF said.
“GCC wealth funds committed USD 53.9 billion across 108 transactions in H1, creating a new record in terms of value and the fourth most active semester ever in terms of volume,” the wealth fund tracker said in a report.
“Of the 42 global mega-deals that were over USD 1 billion in value, 21 of them involved GCC SWFs, which have become frequent co-investors with other leading asset owners,” the 2026 GSR Scoreboard data revealed.
The largest transactions involving GCC wealth funds included the USD 6 billion sale of gaming studio Shanghai Moonton Technology by Chinese tech company ByteDance to the Riyadh-based and PIF-owned Savvy Games Group.
Other major transactions included Mubadala’s deal with TWG in Clear Channel and the Qatar Investment Authority’s (QIA) and CalPERS’ multi-billion co-investment with GIP and EQT to take private the energy company AES. Almost half of the capital went to the US, followed by China and the UK, while the most popular sector was technology, fuelled by the funding rounds of artificial intelligence-related companies,” Global SWF said.
“State-Owned Investors (SOIs) deployed USD 143.6 billion in 366 deals, with most groups of investors—Canada’s Maple 8, Singapore funds, and Gulf SWFs—investing more than in the previous period,” it added further.
While the Iran war and the subsequent rise in oil prices intensified market volatility, a rapid recovery propelled the wealth management industry’s AuM to a total of USD 62.5 trillion in assets.
In terms of investment activity, the first half of 2026 saw sustained, if not higher, dealmaking by most SOIs. If we remove the one-off USD 28.8 billion investment of PIF in EA in December 2025, the value of deals in the most recent semester was 9% higher than that in the previous one,” the report noted.
On a global scale, SWFs deployed USD 83.3 billion in 188 deals, while PPFs [Public Pension Funds] spent USD 60.3 billion in 178 transactions.