Stake in Bitcoin ETF
18 new purchases in Q1
Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co suffered a paper loss of $2.7 billion on its majority stake in US semiconductor maker GlobalFoundries in the first quarter, US regulatory filings show.
GlobalFoundries’ stock price has fallen by about half from its March 2022 peak, extending its decline this year.
This lowered the value of Mubadala’s 81.5 percent stake in the New York-state based tech company to $16.6 billion as of March 31, down 14 percent versus December 31.
GlobalFoundaries is the world’s third-largest semiconductor foundry by revenue, producing integrated circuits for markets including automotive, aerospace and defence.
Mubadala’s US equity investing strategy is markedly different from that of, for instance, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). While $940-billion PIF holds nine-figure stakes in 34 companies, many of which are call options, its Abu Dhabi counterpart buys only shares – and, apart from in GlobalFoundries, in relatively small quantities.
To be sure, the slump in the share price of GlobalFoundries mirrored a tough first quarter for US stock indexes, which hit all-time highs in early February before sliding in March, and then plunging in April on concerns and confusion around President Donald Trump’s combative import tariff policy.
The S&P Global 500 index fell 4.3 percent in the first quarter and the Nasdaq Composite index 10.4 percent.
That said, markets have since recovered. The S&P 500 is close to 6,000 points once again and not far off the all-time high of 6,147.
Mubadala, which had $330 billion of assets under management as of December 31, submits quarterly filings to the US regulator detailing its investments in listed US companies.
The latest shows the fund’s total holdings of listed US companies were worth $17.6 billion, down from $20.5 billion three months earlier.
Its other major investment is in a Bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF). An ETF is a type of investment fund, and can hold a collection of assets, like stocks, bonds and currencies. It can be traded on a stock exchange like a regular share.
Mubadala seems bullish on the digital currency, upping its holdings in the ETF by 500,000 shares to 8.7 million shares at March 31 despite the blockchain-based asset’s stuttering performance in the first quarter.
Bitcoin’s price fell 11.6 percent in the first three months of the year to $82,549, although it has since rebounded to about $102,550 on Monday.
The first-quarter slump lowered the value of Mubadala’s ETF holdings to $437 million from $409 million on December 31.
Of Mubadala’s stakes in 53 companies, only six are valued at more than $10 million. Excluding its GlobalFoundries and Bitcoin ETF holdings, the median value of Mubadala’s 52 other investments is $3.4 million, according to AGBI calculations.
Mubadala rejigged its portfolio during the first quarter, buying into 18 new companies such as pharmaceutical manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb and Expedia, and selling out of nine companies entirely including Pfizer, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup and dating platform Match Group.
Overall, it remained a shareholder in 36 companies from December 31 to March 31. Of these, 12 went up in price and 24 declined. Among the losers, the average drop was 12.4 percent, while among the gainers the average increase was 12.1 percent, AGBI calculates.
During the first quarter, Mubadala increased its existing stakes in 13 companies, although some by only a few hundred shares. These include additional investments in retailer Gap, Western Union and property consultants Jones Lang Lasalle.
Mubadala reduced its holdings in 14 companies, with shares in Coca-Cola and cruise line Carnival Corp among those it sold.
