Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala attracts $2.5bn in Europe private equity deal

European fund manager Ardian will invest $2.5bn in private equity funds run by Mubadala Capital, an arm of Abu Dhabi’s state fund Mubadala, the companies said on Thursday, the first time Mubadala has accepted capital from a third-party investor.

The deal will see Ardian invest $1.75bn to take a majority stake in $2.5bn portfolio owned by Mubadala Capital. The portfolio includes mainly North American buyout and growth funds as well as direct investments.

Mubadala has also established a new $1.5bn private equity fund with equal primary capital commitments from Mubadala Capital and Ardian.

“This deal represents one of Ardian’s largest transactions with a sovereign wealth fund,” Ardian’s head of funds and private debt, Vincent Gombault, said in a joint statement by Ardian and Mubadala Capital. Ardian manages and advises $60bn of assets, with a team of more than 450 employees based in 12 offices across the world.

Mubadala Capital manages more than $10bn of assets across its portfolio.

Sovereign investors like Singapore’s Temasek have also executed similar deals, bringing in outside institutional investors in joint deals. In 2014, it launched Astrea II, a co-investment vehicle in which Ardian was an investor.