Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala sells UniCredit stake worth $947m

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala more than halved its shareholding in Italian bank UniCredit SpA as the holder of about 6 per cent of the world’s oil reserves sells stakes in overseas assets.

The fund’s stake declined to about 2.02 per cent as of December 20, according a filing by the Italian market regulator, down from a 4.99 per cent stake in June, Consob said in a statement late Tuesday.

The stake sold by the fund is valued about 850m euros ($947m) based on yesterday’s closing price.

Representatives for Mubadala and UniCredit declined to comment.

Abu Dhabi’s fund bought the stake in 2010 as part of its strategy to diversify investments from the emirate’s oil-based economy. At the time, the holding was valued at about 1.8bn euros. The fund, started as a means of diversifying the economy by attracting expertise and jobs to the emirate, is now a global investing powerhouse. The fund has invested in Greek fish farming, Europe’s biggest electric-scooter-sharing company and a Canadian data center.

Mubadala has been caught up in a series of investigations over the Malaysian government’s scandal-ridden 1Malaysia Development Bhd. In 2017, Mubadala committed $15bn to SoftBank Group Corp.’s $100bn Vision Fund and its monitoring its performance before deciding whether to sign up for the second round, according to co-CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

The fund cut its stake move happened less than one month after UniCredit chief executive officer Jean Pierre Mustier announced new business strategy, aimed at rewarding investors through 2023 through share buybacks and dividends totaling Eur8bn.

Mustier is seeking to drive investor returns while signaling that the bank – in common with many of its peers – is struggling to boost growth in a time of negative interest rates. Revenue and costs are expected to be little changed through 2023 and the bank will focus on eking out what it can on its own rather than attempting major acquisitions.

UniCredit’s main investors are BlackRock Inc. and Dodge & Cox with about 5 per cent stake each, according to the bank’s website.