Even sovereign wealth funds weren’t spared in the 2022 market sell-off: The value of sovereign wealth funds declined for the first time ever in 2022 on the back of the rout in the global equity and bond markets, according to industry specialist Global SWF’s annual report. Sovereign wealth funds — state-owned investment vehicles that invest in financial assets in pursuit of economic returns — lost USD 1 tn during the year, bringing total assets under management to USD 10.6 tn. Similarly, the value of assets held by public pension funds (PPFs) fell USD 1.3 tn.

A year of historic losses: Global stocks and bonds shed more than USD 30 tn during the year as tightening financial conditions, inflation and the war in Ukraine shocked financial markets. Stocks measured in the MSCI All-World index experienced their largest annual loss since 2008 while USD 9.6 tn was wiped off the value of global corporate and sovereign debt, according to a Bloomberg index.

Hedge funds were in vogue as state-owned investors sought diversification: With stocks and bonds in simultaneous decline, sovereign investors sought safety in hedge funds which managed to outperform financial markets even as they nursed their heftiest losses since 2018. Sovereign wealth and public pension funds raised their average allocation to hedge funds to a record high of 2.0% last year, and accounted for around 25% of all investments in the industry, according to Global SWF estimates.

The market turmoil didn’t stop them investing: Despite shrinking in size, the industry still managed to increase investments by 38% y-o-y to USD 152.5 bn. Dealcount, though, slipped 16% to 747 during the year as funds moved away from venture capital towards megadeals — investments over USD 1 bn per fund — in a bid to deploy large amounts of capital rapidly.

Gulf funds were the “white knights” of the lot: Buoyed by rising oil prices, wealth funds in the Gulf outperformed those in other areas of the world. Together, they doubled their annual spend to USD 89 bn in 2022, according to data from Global SWF picked up by Bloomberg, with USD 51.6 bn of that heading to Western economies. They were also involved in almost half of the 60 megadeals closed during the year. Abu Dhabi’s ADIA made the largest investment, pouring USD 4 bn into ASF IX, a fund run by France-based private equity investment firm Ardian, and USD 2 bn for joint investments.

Five of the 10 most active sovereign investors of 2022 hail from the Gulf: Singapore’s GIC topped the list with USD 40.3 bn worth of capital deployed, followed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which invested USD 25.9 bn and USD 20.7 bn respectively. Also in the top 10: Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala, ADQ, and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). The four other spots were occupied by Singapore’s Temasek and Canada’s CPP, CDPQ, and OTPP.

And they’re not going anywhere, with the pressure only rising on Gulf wealth funds to deploy their funds: With more than USD 3.5 tn in assets — an amount larger than the UK’s GDP and more than 8x Egypt’s economic output in 2021 — Gulf sovereign wealth fund authorities are under pressure to use their funds to diversify their economies and wean themselves off of oil, the business information service quotes people familiar with the matter as saying. PIF has fallen short of its commitment to spend some USD 40 bn a year by 2025 two years in a row now, the sources told Bloomberg.

But the politics of investing is growing more complicated: The delicate politics embedded in Gulf sovereign wealth funds’ investments are making it harder for dealmakers to lock in their investments, with some decisions often requiring the greenlight from the ruling sheikhs, the sources said. The funds are trying to invest more strategically and inject their money into what helps drive their nation building goals forward, they added.

What’s next? Global SWF estimates that assets managed by sovereign funds will grow from today’s USD 10.6 tn in assets under management to USD 17.3 tn by 2030. Public pension funds, on the other hand, are expected to grow from USD 20.8 tn to USD 33.2 tn by 2030. It also expects sovereign investors to downsize their bond portfolios and invest more capital in private credit and hedge funds over the next few years, and forecasts increased activity from Gulf funds in global markets.