Global SWF’s sixth annual report revealed that 2025 marked a historic shift in the global financial balance of power, as investors together with central banks notched a record $60 trillion in assets and foreign reserves.
The report also showed that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) was crowed top of the list of sovereign funds worldwide in terms of expenditure in 2025, amounting to $36.2 billion.
This lead reflects the success of ‘Vision 2030’ in turning the Fund into a strategic compass that sets the direction of global financial flows; from tech innovation hubs in the US to giant development projects in Riyadh.
According to Global SWF, behind this leap lies a pivotal deal: the fund's acquisition of gaming giant “Electronic Arts” (EA) for $28.8 billion.
Also, PIF along with the seven Gulf sovereign wealth funds invested a record $119 billion in 2025, a 43% increase from 2024, and representing 43% of all capital invested by state-owned investors globally.
In addition to the PIF, the seven Gulf sovereign funds include the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the Investment Corporation of Dubai, the Mubadala Investment Company, ADQ (Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company), Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), and the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA).
Also, sovereign wealth fund assets alone hit a fresh record - $15 trillion - according to Global SWF, which uses a combination of public data and official reports to monitor the assets and spending of the world's state-owned investors, including wealth and pension funds and central banks.
Gulf-based funds, with $6 trillion in assets, have recorded a remarkable 48% increase in investment activity compared to 2024, accounting for almost half of the world's deals.
Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) reached a historic high in December 2025, passing $15 trillion for the first time ever.
Together with Public Pension Funds (PPFs) and Central Banks (CBs), which also grew their balance sheets significantly during the year, they now collectively manage $60 trillion in assets and reserves. Projections suggest that this figure could increase further to circa $80 trillion by 2030.
In 2025, financial markets performed strongly around the world.
Most global indices ended the year with significant gains, except for Saudi Arabia’s TASI, which fell 12.5% causing the slowdown in IPOs.
Global bonds posted a strong gain of 7.5%, while stocks surged by 21.5% as measured by the S&P Global 1200. Private markets are always more difficult to measure, but according to public markets proxies, infrastructure had a strong year, up 18.1%, while real estate and private equity performed poorly.
Concerning the geographical distribution of global assets, Asia maintained its lead, accounting for more than one-third of global assets, followed by North America with 26%, Europe with 19% and the Middle East and North Africa with 15%.
The United States remained the most attractive destination for sovereign wealth funds, capturing 47% of all deals. Concurrently, investments in emerging markets experienced a 26% decline.
In terms of key themes, digitalization remained a key trend across asset classes, as sovereign investors continued to allocate significant capital to digital infrastructure, data centers, and AI companies and funds.
As a result, most sectors except for industrial products and financial services, received more capital in 2025 than they did in 2024.
The recovery of real estate and infrastructure was remarkable, even if to lower levels than their peak in 2021-2022. Investments in climate-related companies reached $ 35.7 billion – a new record – and private credit continued to grow as an option within illiquid markets.
