Mubadala reports Dh10.6bn in H1 income on strong public equities performance

Total assets came in at Dh832bn following the integration of Abu Dhabi Investment Council

Khaldoon Al Mubarak , CEO of the Mubadala Investment Company -- the firm reported Dh10.6bn in comprehensive income during the first half of 2018. Pawan Singh / The National

Mubadala Investment Company reported a total comprehensive income of Dh10.6 billion for the first half of the year, driven by strong public equities performance and higher income from its petroleum and petrochemicals businesses.

Abu Dhabi’s strategic investment company said on Thursday that total assets following the integration of Abu Dhabi Investment Council (Adic) into the group reached Dh832bn. It did not give comparative profit figures.

Adic, an investment platform with majority stakes in some of the biggest financial institutions in the emirate, joined the group this year. Total equity at the end of the period reached Dh583bn.

“In the first half of the year, we continued to deploy capital in new sectors and geographies, in line with our long-term strategy,” said Mubadala’s group chief executive and managing director, Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

The decision to bring the Abu Dhabi Investment Council into the Mubadala group “has increased the scale and breadth of our portfolio, building on the group’s significant operational achievements, monetising assets at good valuations for financial return and investing in new sectors and geographies, in line with our strategy,” Mr Mubarak said.

Mubadala, which invests globally across 13 sectors, is central to Abu Dhabi's efforts to diversify its economy away from oil. The company merged with Ipic in 2017 and has about $225bn in assets. Mubadala has actively pursued investments in Europe and Asia, with a focus on China, the world's second-biggest economy, to further strengthen its international portfolio.

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Earlier this week, Mubadala’s fully owned integrated energy company Cepsa, said it was planning a listing in Spain, selling 25 per cent of its shares in what could be the biggest oil company initial public offering in the past decade.

The listing of Cepsa, which operates across the entire oil and gas value chain, is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of this year and is subject to market conditions, said Mubadala.

Abu Dhabi has built its stake in Cepsa over years and bought shares held by France's Total in 2011, valuing the Spanish company at around €7.5bn (Dh32.1bn).

At home, Mubadala plans to list shares of Emirates Global Aluminium, the UAE's biggest industrial company outside the oil and gas sector. The industrial manufacturer, which is jointly owned by Mubadala and Dubai's government sovereign wealth fund, Investment Corporation of Dubai, is most likely to float shares later this year, its chief executive Abdulla Kalban said in April.

“Leverage remains well-balanced across the portfolio and cash flow is solid,” said Mubadala chief financial officer Carlos Obeid.

In May, Mubadala announced the sale of its consortium’s majority interest in EMI Music Publishing to Sony Corporation for $1.9bn, which values the asset at $4.75bn.

The completion of the transaction is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Mubadala also “monetised select assets at good valuations [during the first half of this year], to deliver financial returns” to its shareholders, Mr Mubarak said.

Within its alternative investments and infrastructure business, the company said it plans to create a $400 million venture fund to invest in European technology companies. The investment vehicle will be managed by Mubadala Ventures, the venture capital arm of the company, while Japan's SoftBank Group will be a strategic investor.

Adnoc’s award of a 20 per cent stake in a 40-year concession containing the Sarb and Umm Lulu fields to Cepsa for an initial participation fee of $1.5bn was among the operational highlights of the petroleum and petrochemicals business in the first half of 2018.

Cepsa, which has more recently entered the renewable energy market, balances Mubadala's gas-leaning portfolio, with its exposure to oil assets in South America, South East Asia and Kenya, as well as a significant portfolio of chemical assets, notably linear alkyl benzene – which is used in the detergent making industry.

Cepsa also signed a new concession agreement in Algeria for the operation and redevelopment of the Rhoude el Krouf oilfield and increased its stake in the Bir el Msana oilfield and, with its partners Sonatrach and Total, put into production the Timimoun gas field.