Mubadala Capital Closes Private Equity Fund III With Total Commitments of $1.6b

Mubadala Capital Closes Private Equity Fund III With Total Commitments of $1.6b
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Mubadala Capital Closes Private Equity Fund III With Total Commitments of $1.6b

Mubadala Capital Closes Private Equity Fund III With Total Commitments of $1.6b

Mubadala Capital, the asset management subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company, has closed its third Private Equity fund, MIC Capital Partners III (Fund III), with total commitments of $1.6 billion.

Fund III surpassed its initial target and raised capital commitments from a diverse set of new and existing investors including leading pension plans, endowments, insurance plans, government institutions, family offices and private equity firms across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, state news agency WAM reported.

Adib Mattar, Head of Private Equity at Mubadala Capital, said: "We began our Private Equity investment practice 13 years ago. The closing of Fund III represents a major milestone for the Private Equity team and also for Mubadala Capital."

"To have the opportunity to partner with a group of leading institutional investors from across the world is both a privilege for us and a meaningful vote of confidence by the market in our ability to originate compelling new investment opportunities, partner with leading management teams and create value across our portfolio in order to continue delivering strong risk-adjusted returns to our investors."

Mubadala Capital’s Fund III is focused on direct investments in North America and Europe across the following core sector areas where the team has a strong network and track record including: Media, sports and entertainment; Consumer and food services; Financial services; and Industrials and business services.

According to WAM, to date, Fund III consists of approximately $1.4 billion of investments across nine high-quality assets, including REEF Technology, a proximity-as-a-service platform enabling and accelerating the growth of the North American on-demand economy; YES Network, the leading Regional Sports Network in the New York and Tri-State area; and Peterson Farms, the leading processor of fresh-cut apples, quick-frozen fruit products and not-from concentrate juice in the United States, among others.

"The success of our Private Equity business demonstrates the strength of Mubadala Capital and its strategy of generating attractive risk-adjusted returns by combining the benefits of our sovereign ownership whether through sourcing opportunities; the ability to leverage resources during diligence; or value creation as an owner, with a highly focused investment strategy and a well-aligned and motivated team." Mattar added.

"These efforts are supported by a disciplined and robust investment process focused on capital preservation and downside protection."

Mubadala Capital manages $9 billion of assets in third-party managed funds across its private equity, public equities, venture capital and Brazil businesses, and is the first sovereign wealth fund to manage third-party capital on behalf of other institutional investors.



ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
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ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde renewed her call for economic integration across Europe on Friday, arguing that intensifying global trade tensions and a growing technology gap with the United States create fresh urgency for action.
US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to impose tariffs on most if not all imports and said Europe would pay a heavy price for having run a large trade surplus with the US for decades.
"The geopolitical environment has also become less favorable, with growing threats to free trade from all corners of the world," Lagarde said in a speech, without directly referring to Trump.
"The urgency to integrate our capital markets has risen."
While Europe has made some progress, EU members tend to water down most proposals to protect vested national interests to the detriment of the bloc as a whole, Reuters quoted Lagarde as saying.
But this is taking hundreds of billions if not trillions of euros out of the economy as households are holding 11.5 trillion euros in cash and deposits, and much of this is not making its way to the firms that need the funding.
"If EU households were to align their deposit-to-financial assets ratio with that of US households, a stock of up to 8 trillion euros could be redirected into long-term, market-based investments – or a flow of around 350 billion euros annually," Lagarde said.
When the cash actually enters the capital market, it often stays within national borders or leaves for the US in hope of better returns, Lagarde added.
Europe therefore needs to reduce the cost of investing in capital markets and must make the regulatory regime easier for cash to flow to places where it is needed the most.
A solution might be to create an EU-wide regulatory regime on top of the 27 national rules and certain issuers could then opt into this framework.
"To bypass the cumbersome process of regulatory harmonization, we could envisage a 28th regime for issuers of securities," Lagarde said. "They would benefit from a unified corporate and securities law, facilitating cross-border placement, holding and settlement."
Still, that would not solve the problem that few innovative companies set up shop in Europe, partly due to the lack of funding. So Europe must make it easier for investment to flow into venture capital and for banks to fund startups, she said.