How Sovereign Wealth Funds Invest in Industrials and Manufacturing

At a glance

• 90 deals by 51 sovereign funds in our tables.
• 22 carry an amount we can show in USD; 6 are USD 1 billion or more.
• Most active fund: EDGE Group with 9 deals.
• Main structure: direct investment.

Key findings

1. Our profile tables list 90 industrials and manufacturing deals across 51 funds, 8% of all deals we track.
2. Most active: EDGE (9), NSSIF (5), Solidium (4).
3. Most common structure: direct investment (48 deals, 53%). Co-investments and joint ventures: 29. Fund commitments: 3.
4. Biggest amount in our tables: USD 60.0B, XRG in Borouge Group International (2026).
5. By fund home region: Asia 28, Middle East 27, Europe 25.
6. 74 operating funds name industrials and manufacturing as a focus sector on their profiles.
7. 47 of these deals are dated 2024 or later.
8. Top stages: buyout (23), growth (23), public markets (12).

Most active funds

Biggest deals in our tables

Structures and stages

Regional patterns

Most common target countries: United Kingdom (9), UAE (5), Finland (5), Brazil (4), Canada (4), Malaysia (4).

Partners named most often: EQT (2), Airbus (2), Mubadala (1), L'IMAD (1), Turkiye Wealth Fund (1), Apollo (1).

Mini case studies

Co-investing with INA in chemicals (Danantara)

• Danantara, INA and Chandra Asri agreed to build a chlor-alkali and EDC plant in Cilegon.
• When: August 2025 / Size: About USD 800M project
• Why: Replaces imported chemicals and fits the downstream industry plan.
• Outcome: A conditional share subscription agreement followed the memorandum.
• Src: S19

ALEC: listing a builder to recycle capital (ICD)

• Floated 20 percent of construction group ALEC on the Dubai Financial Market.
• When: October 2025 / Size: AED 1.4B raised
• Why: Fits the stated aim of recycling capital from mature assets into new opportunities.
• Outcome: ICD kept 81.6 percent and control.
• Src: S4, S5

Schneider Electric India: a five-year build and exit (Temasek)

• Bought a 35 percent stake in Schneider Electric's Indian unit, then sold it back to the parent.
• When: 2018 to 2025 / Size: Exit value S$8.2B
• Why: A partnership with a global strategic owner in a fast-growing market.
• Outcome: One of Temasek's largest exits; India held up well despite a weaker rupee.
• Src: S5

What this means for founders, managers and family offices

• Know the stage. Buyout is the most common stage here (23 deals), then growth (23). Seed deals: 1.
• Show plants, jobs and technology transfer in the fund's home market. Industrial policy drives many of these mandates.
• A joint venture with a fund's portfolio company is often the practical route for a foreign manufacturer.
• Fund commitments are 3% of deals here. Most money goes direct, so managers should lead with co-investment rights.
• Family offices: 29 co-investments and joint ventures in our tables. Sitting beside a sovereign fund is more realistic than raising from one; start with the funds listed above.

Data notes: Counts come from the investment, case study and size tables in our fund profiles. They cover the deals each profile lists, not every deal a fund has done, so read them as a guide, not a full census. USD figures marked approx are either stated in USD in the profile or converted at the exchange rate implied by a fund profile headline in the same currency. Amounts are as the profile states them, so some are the full deal size and some are the fund's own ticket. Sector is the tag on each deal in our tables.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from the fund profiles linked in the tables. Source ids such as S3 refer to the numbered sources on each fund's own profile page, where the original document is listed with its date.