Sovereign wealth funds, including GIC, power big resurgence in deals in 2025
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Blackstone and TPG agreed on Oct 21 to acquire medical-device maker Hologic for US$18.3 billion, with GIC and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority taking minority stakes.
PHOTO: GIC
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London – Deep-pocketed sovereign wealth funds are helping drive a resurgence in dealmaking that has taken global merger and acquisition (M&A) volumes past US$3.5 trillion (S$4.5 trillion) in 2025.
The M&A volume is now up 34 per cent this year, putting 2025 on track to be the best year since 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
More than US$1.3 trillion in transactions were recorded in the third quarter, driven by a few mega deals.
State-backed funds from the Middle East and Asia, including Singapore, provided firepower for some of 2025’s biggest transactions. Blackstone and TPG agreed on Oct 21 to acquire medical-device maker Hologic for as much as US$18.3 billion including debt, with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC taking minority stakes.
Last week, BlackRock teamed up with Singapore’s investment company Temasek and MGX, an artificial intelligence investment firm set up by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment, on a US$40 billion deal for Aligned Data Centres
The week before, Carlyle Group partnered with Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) to buy control of BASF’s coatings business in a deal valuing the unit at €7.7 billion (S$11.6 billion).
It was only in September that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund agreed to take video-game maker Electronic Arts private in a US$55 billion leveraged buyout – the biggest ever.
Sovereign wealth funds have been building out their internal deal teams as they seek to do more direct investments, giving them a chance to profit without having to pay fees to Wall Street.
They are among the biggest backers of private equity funds, and have squeezed out concessions that force the buyout firms to give them opportunities to invest alongside them in return for the cash they provide.
The funds have been particularly active in tech.
In August, private equity giant Thoma Bravo got backing from Adia for its roughly US$12 billion acquisition of human-resource software provider Dayforce.
Abu Dhabi’s state-backed MGX has invested in OpenAI at a US$500 billion valuation. It has also backed Mr Elon Musk’s xAI and plans to contribute to US President Donald Trump’s Stargate venture.
GIC and QIA have put money into rival AI start-up Anthropic.
Rainmakers at the top investment banks said they expect the flurry of takeovers to continue.
Goldman Sachs Group is predicting a major ramp-up in dealmaking towards the end of 2025, with a chance that 2026 will be a record year for M&A.
Sovereign investors are on the hunt for more deals. Mubadala’s asset management arm is exploring an acquisition of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, the billboard operator with a market value of around US$930 million.
And they are looking beyond takeovers, with the Qatari sovereign fund joining a more than US$2 billion fundraising for Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel’s new company, alongside other investors like Apollo Global Management and Ares Management Corporation. BLOOMBERG
