When Credit Suisse Group AG, Sam Bankman-Fried and Asia’s richest men were hunting for funds in recent months, they all turned to the same place — the Middle East.
As many debt markets slammed shut last year, cash became king — and the region’s sovereign wealth funds have plenty. Surging energy prices left funds from Saudi Arabia to Qatar and Abu Dhabi managing more than $3.5 trillion, an amount that exceeds the UK’s GDP. They’re now bankrolling some of the world’s biggest rescue packages, investments and acquisitions — and show no signs of pulling back in 2023.
Those ambitions are already on show early in the year. Mubadala Investment Co.’s First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, one of the Middle East’s biggest lenders, said it had explored a bid for Standard Chartered Plc, the British financial giant that’s worth more than $20 billion. That follows last year’s flurry of deal activity in the region. Saudi Arabia’s largest bank, partly owned by the kingdom’s sovereign fund, became Credit Suisse’s biggest shareholder. Bankman-Fried visited the United Arab Emirates in a last-ditch effort to secure funds before the spectacular collapse of his crypto exchange FTX.
Meanwhile, Indian billionaire Gautam Adani — the richest person in Asia — has been courting Middle East sovereign wealth funds as he attempts to raise roughly $5 billion in equity across his sprawling business empire and reduce leverage, according to people familiar with the matter. Mukesh Ambani is also said to be approaching Middle Eastern funds seeking investment in his energy businesses.
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