Investor types

Sovereign wealth funds

Sovereign wealth funds are state-owned investors that hold more than US$15 trillion. In 2025 they completed US$278 billion of deals across 562 investments, at an average ticket of US$0.5 billion.

What a sovereign wealth fund is

A sovereign wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund that invests a country's surplus capital, typically from oil exports, foreign exchange reserves or fiscal surpluses.¹ It differs from a public pension fund, which has liabilities to members, and from a central bank, which has a monetary policy mandate and holds reserves mainly in liquid, short-dated instruments. The boundaries are not always sharp: Norway's Government Pension Fund Global is ranked both as a pension fund and as the largest sovereign wealth fund.

Sovereign funds sit within a wider group of state-owned investors that also includes public pension funds and central banks. The combined assets of that wider group reached US$62.5 trillion, according to Global SWF data reported by The Source Code in 2026.⁴

Scale

Sovereign wealth funds held a record US$15 trillion in assets under management in 2025, according to Global SWF data reported by the Taipei Times on 2 January 2026.² The IE Center for the Governance of Change's 2026 report, published with ICEX-Invest in Spain, counts 109 sovereign wealth funds with combined assets of US$15.1 trillion as of April 2026, against 104 funds and US$13.2 trillion in its 2024 edition, an increase of almost US$2 trillion, or 14%, in eighteen months.³

1. The Gulf. Deloitte, citing Global SWF, reports that sovereign funds of the Gulf Cooperation Council states collectively manage almost US$6 trillion, more than 40% of the global total.⁶ Gulf state-owned investors supplied 43% of all capital invested by state-owned investors globally in 2025, at US$126 billion, and state-owned investors in the United Arab Emirates hold US$2.9 trillion.²
2. Asia. State-owned investors in China hold US$8.2 trillion.² China Investment Corporation reported total assets of US$1.57 trillion and net assets of US$1.37 trillion at the end of 2024.¹⁴ Temasek reported a net portfolio value of S$434 billion at 31 March 2025.¹⁵
3. United Kingdom. The UK National Wealth Fund appears in the IE ranking of sovereign deal activity with US$5 billion across 15 deals.³
4. Wider Europe. Norway's Government Pension Fund Global is the largest fund in Europe and the world, with a value of NOK 21,268 billion at 31 December 2025 and NOK 22,683 billion at 30 June 2026.^12,13

Structures and sub-types

Sovereign funds are usually grouped by purpose.

1. Savings or intergenerational funds, which convert finite resource revenue into financial wealth for future generations and invest globally across asset classes.
2. Stabilisation funds, which smooth the effect of commodity price swings on the state budget and therefore hold more liquid assets.
3. Strategic and development funds, which invest at home to build industries and infrastructure as well as abroad. The IE report finds that strategic and development funds are the dominant type among EU sovereign funds.³
4. Reserve investment funds, which invest part of a country's foreign exchange reserves for higher returns than reserve managers usually seek.

Source of capital and investment horizon

Capital comes from commodity revenue, foreign exchange reserves or fiscal surpluses transferred by the state.¹ The horizon follows the mandate: intergenerational savings funds invest for the long term, while stabilisation and development funds serve shorter or domestic policy aims. Because a sovereign fund has no member liabilities and limited redemption pressure, it can accept illiquidity where its mandate allows.

How sovereign wealth funds invest in private markets

Sovereign funds invest in private markets as limited partners in funds, as co-investors alongside sponsors and as direct owners of companies and assets. In 2025, total sovereign deal activity reached US$278 billion across 562 investments. Nine of the ten largest sovereign deals of the year were co-investments with private equity firms.⁴

Activity is concentrated among a few funds. By deal value, GIC led with US$106 billion, followed by PIF with US$80 billion, QIA with US$77 billion, ADIA with US$56 billion and Mubadala with US$50 billion; these five accounted for 73% of total deal value in the period covered by the IE report, down from 86% in its previous edition. By number of deals, the five most active funds (Temasek, GIC, Mubadala, QIA and PIF) accounted for 70% of activity, against 71% a year earlier.³ Mubadala reports that it deployed AED 143 billion (US$39 billion) in 2025, after AED 119 billion in 2024.^7,8

Typical ticket sizes

The average sovereign ticket in 2025 was US$0.5 billion across 562 investments.⁴ The IE report notes that MGX, the Abu Dhabi vehicle launched in March 2024 by Mubadala and G42, recorded a median ticket of US$4 billion over nine transactions in eighteen months.³ For a fund manager or company, these sizes mean that sovereign funds are generally relevant to large fund commitments, large co-investments and control or significant minority stakes.

How decisions are made

A sovereign fund is overseen by a board appointed by the state, often chaired by a senior government figure, while investment operations are run by professional executives. Sector or asset class teams source and assess opportunities and prepare investment memoranda for an internal investment or management committee, with the largest commitments referred to the board. For cross-border direct investments, the process also covers tax structuring and the foreign investment screening that applies to state-owned investors in the target country.

What sovereign funds look for and why they decline

Sovereign funds look for transactions large enough to justify their attention, governance rights that protect a minority position, such as board representation and information rights, and resilience to political and regulatory risk. Strategic and development funds may also look for benefits to the domestic economy, such as a local operation or joint venture. Opportunities are commonly declined because they are too small, because of reputational or regulatory concerns or because a sponsor is unwilling to offer co-investment rights.

Regulation and governance

Each sovereign fund is governed by its state owner under its own mandate. Many follow the Santiago Principles, a set of 24 generally accepted principles and practices promulgated in Santiago in October 2008, which members of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds undertake to implement on a voluntary basis and against which they publish self-assessments.⁹ Global SWF's Governance, Sustainability and Resilience Scoreboard, in its seventh edition published on 30 June 2026, assessed the 200 largest state-owned investors, which manage US$34 trillion for 76 countries, against 25 indicators. The average score edged up to 60%, with sustainability and resilience improving while governance stayed flat; nine institutions achieved perfect scores.⁴

Host country rules also shape sovereign investment. In the United States, section 892 of the Internal Revenue Code excludes certain US-source investment income of foreign governments from gross income, but not income derived from the conduct of a commercial activity, which affects how funds structure their holdings.¹⁰ Direct investments by state-owned investors are also subject to foreign investment screening in the US, the UK and the European Union.

Trends in 2025 and 2026

Sovereign capital moved towards the United States in 2025, which attracted US$131.8 billion. Investment in China fell to US$4.3 billion from US$10.3 billion in 2024. Sovereign funds put US$66 billion into artificial intelligence and digitalisation, according to Global SWF data reported by the Taipei Times.²

Temasek plans to lift AI-related exposure from 6% of portfolio value to 15% by 2031 and to raise private credit from 2% to 5% of its portfolio, according to The Source Code.⁴ Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund reported assets under management exceeding US$900 billion for 2025, with net profit more than doubling to US$17 billion and revenue up 9% to US$120 billion.¹¹ Mubadala's assets under management grew 17% in 2025 to AED 1.4 trillion (US$385 billion).⁷ In the first half of 2026, state-owned investors deployed US$143.6 billion across 366 transactions, according to Global SWF's half-year report.⁴

Notable examples

Several large funds, including ADIA and QIA, do not publish total assets; ADIA's annual review reports returns only, with 20-year and 30-year annualised returns of 6.6% and 7.2% at 31 December 2025.^16,17 Where a fund does not disclose its size, the table gives Global SWF's estimate from its public ranking of July 2026, as republished by Macro Discovery on 20 September 2026.⁵

How advisers and placement agents work with sovereign wealth funds

The pattern of sovereign deal flow, in which nine of the ten largest deals of 2025 were co-investments with private equity firms, shows that much sovereign capital reaches companies through sponsors.⁴ Advisers and placement agents typically work with the head of the relevant asset class team, such as private equity, infrastructure or private credit, and with the fund's external relationship managers. For direct transactions, sovereign funds generally prefer bilateral or limited processes to broad auctions, and a company or fund manager approaching a sovereign fund needs to match the fund's mandate, its minimum ticket size and, for strategic funds, its domestic objectives. Anglo-Suisse Capital advises on capital raising, M&A and secondary transactions with professional investors.

Frequently asked questions

How much do sovereign wealth funds manage?

A record US$15 trillion in 2025, according to Global SWF data reported by the Taipei Times; the IE Center for the Governance of Change counts 109 funds with US$15.1 trillion as of April 2026.²³

How large is a typical sovereign wealth fund investment?

The average ticket in 2025 was US$0.5 billion across 562 investments.⁴

Do sovereign wealth funds back funds or make direct deals?

Both. Nine of the ten largest sovereign deals of 2025 were co-investments with private equity firms.⁴

Where did sovereign wealth funds invest in 2025?

The United States attracted US$131.8 billion, while investment in China fell to US$4.3 billion.²

How important are Gulf sovereign investors?

Gulf sovereign funds manage almost US$6 trillion, more than 40% of the global total, according to Deloitte citing Global SWF, and Gulf state-owned investors supplied 43% of all state-owned capital invested in 2025.⁶²

What are the Santiago Principles?

A voluntary set of 24 generally accepted principles and practices for sovereign wealth funds, promulgated in October 2008 and administered through the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds.⁹

Do all sovereign funds publish their size?

No. ADIA and QIA, for example, do not publish total assets; published figures for them are third-party estimates.¹⁶¹⁷

What is the largest sovereign wealth fund?

Norway's Government Pension Fund Global, at NOK 22,683 billion at 30 June 2026.¹³

Working with Anglo-Suisse Capital

Anglo-Suisse Capital advises companies, fund managers and shareholders on capital raising, M&A and secondary transactions with professional investors in the UK, Switzerland and internationally.

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Sources

1. Altss: Largest sovereign wealth funds ranking (2026)
2. Taipei Times: Sovereign wealth funds report, citing Global SWF (2 January 2026)
3. IE Center for the Governance of Change and ICEX-Invest in Spain: Sovereign Wealth Funds 2026 (2026)
4. The Source Code: Sovereign funds, start-ups and cheque sizes, citing Global SWF (2026)
5. Macro Discovery: Largest sovereign wealth funds, citing Global SWF July 2026 ranking (20 September 2026)
6. Deloitte Middle East: Expanding horizons, GCC SWFs at the forefront of a strategic global shift (27 January 2026)
7. Mubadala: Strong performance by UAE portfolio drives Mubadala's growth in 2025 (9 April 2026)
8. Mubadala: Mubadala Investment Company reports 2024 financial results (8 May 2025)
9. International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds: Santiago Principles
10. Internal Revenue Service: Foreign governments and certain other foreign organizations
11. Public Investment Fund: PIF delivers strong revenue and profit growth in 2025 (2026)
12. Norges Bank Investment Management: Strong return in 2025 (2026)
13. Norges Bank Investment Management: Record high krone return in the first half of the year (2026)
14. China Investment Corporation: Annual Report 2024 released (9 December 2025)
15. Temasek: Temasek Review 2025, performance and portfolio (2025)
16. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority: 2025 Review (2026)
17. Qatar Investment Authority: About QIA

This page is general information for professional investors and is not investment advice. Figures are taken from the sources listed, as at the dates stated.