Study: PIF was the most active sovereign investor in 2023‎

Public Investment Fund emerged as the world’s most active sovereign investor last year, boosting its deal activity even as most of its global peers including Singapore’s sovereign fund GEC and Temasek Holdings reduced spending. The report pointed out that the Public Investment Fund accounted for about a quarter of sovereign fund deals around the world during 2023, which amounted to about $124 billion.

The huge Public Investment Fund’s spending reached $31.5 billion in 2023, compared to $123.8 billion for all sovereign wealth funds, based on a preliminary annual report from Global SWF, an industry specialist company that tracks sovereign investment funds in the world. The strong rise in global stocks last year helped swell assets managed by sovereign wealth funds around the world to a record level of $11.2 trillion.

The report said that the Saudi sovereign fund’s total spending in the clean energy sector, from green hydrogen to lithium, also reached a record level of $25.9 billion in 2023. Despite this, the total spending of sovereign wealth funds last year was 21% lower for 2022. Singapore’s sovereign fund GEC, which has led wealth fund spending over the past six years, invested 48% less in 2023, despite the influx of $144 billion from the country’s central bank. ‎

The Global Sovereign Wealth Fund report said that Gulf funds were able to greatly increase their exclusivity in concluding deals at the expense of Canadian and Singaporean funds. Gulf funds currently represent approximately 40% of the investment value concluded by sovereign wealth funds worldwide, specifically the funds that publish their data.