The Department for International Trade and the Prime Minister’s
Office’s recently-established UK Office for Investment (OfI) and
Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company, one of the world’s
leading sovereign investors, today signed a long-term investment
agreement.
This is the first agreement of its kind for the UK and the Office
for Investment and will deepen existing UK-UAE trade and
investment ties that were worth £32 billion in 2019.
The UAE-UK Sovereign Investment Partnership (SIP) will serve as a
coordinated investment framework to grow a future-focused
relationship between the two nations, driving economic recovery,
jobs and growth.
An initial £800m commitment from Mubadala to invest in UK life
sciences over five years is the first focus for the SIP. The sum
will be deployed alongside the UK’s £200m Life Sciences
Investment Programme announced last year, a vital pool of patient
capital for the sector that will enable more UK life sciences
businesses to scale and grow. The OfI and Mubadala will work
together to identify commercially viable opportunities for
investment into the sector.
Combined, these funds will provide much needed stable investment
into the next generation of life science companies around the
country. The industry, which generates £80 billion turnover a
year within the UK and employs more than 250,000 people, is
expected to benefit from stronger links in life sciences
research, education and closer ties between the UAE and UK.
Over a five-year period, the SIP will invest across several tech
and innovation-led sectors such as energy transition and
infrastructure that will support job creation in both nations,
strengthen national research and development capabilities and
develop new areas of investment collaboration.
UK International Trade Secretary said:
The UAE is an important trading partner for the UK and home to
some of the world’s largest and most experienced investment
companies. It’s fantastic that we are collaborating more
closely in the industries of tomorrow like science, tech and
green growth, so we can build back better and deliver an
investment-led, jobs-led recovery from coronavirus.
This is a major win for the Office for Investment and shows how
the UK is an investment destination of choice. From Liverpool
and Edinburgh to Oxford and Nottingham, our world class life
sciences clusters and innovative businesses will see the
benefits of this partnership.
Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group CEO of
Mubadala commented:
The UAE and UK are aligned on the importance of global action
on critical priorities such as healthcare innovation and
delivery, climate change and the sustainable growth of
high-skilled industries.
Coordination on investment and global innovation ecosystems is
vital to enabling progress against these challenges and
presents a significant post-COVID economic opportunity for the
UK and UAE.
Mubadala is already a long-term investor in UK innovation and
growth, and our new partnership now provides a platform to
allocate stable capital to priority sectors as part of a
future-focused investment relationship.
Gerry Grimstone, UK Minister for Investment said:
This partnership will enable the UK life sciences sector to
develop cutting-edge technologies and research while retaining
homegrown innovation and jobs. It will also leverage the UK and
UAE’s mutual priorities in building better and stronger
economies through investment.
Attracting and enabling strategic international investors to
operate effectively in the UK is vital to job creation and our
growth as a world leader in life sciences, clean growth, tech
and innovation. Mubadala is exactly the calibre of investor
that we want to partner with to enable vital pillars of our
economy to advance.
Mubadala will also connect UK industries to research and
innovation initiatives across its global portfolio spanning more
than 50 countries, which has a major focus on innovation and
technology-led sectors, including composite manufacturing,
semiconductors, renewable energy, biotech and urban mobility. The
UAE-UK partnership will build on the investment model Mubadala
has established in other geographies.
The SIP’s inaugural life sciences investments are expected to
complete later this year.
