Mubadala Capital, which is a unit of Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Company, was reported by the Financial Times (FT), to have cleared a major U.S. regulatory hurdle in its bid to acquire New York-based Fortress Investment Group. The FT cited that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) approved Fortress’ sale of a majority equity interest to Mubadala. The CFIUS approval is conditioned upon Mubadala permitting Fortress to keep its technology and data group in the U.S. The U.S. government is concerned about U.S. intellectual property falling into the hands of adversarial nations such as Russia or China.
Mubadala is keen on growing its asset management businesses. For example, Mubadala is one of Investcorp’s largest shareholders.
In May 2023, Mubadala disclosed they would acquire a majority equity 90.01% stake in Fortress Investment Group from SoftBank Group Corporation. SoftBank have been the owners of Fortress since 2017. After transaction close, Fortress management is expected to own a 30% equity interest in the company and will hold a class of equity entitling Fortress management to appoint a majority of seats on the board. Mubadala Capital (which currently holds a 9.99% stake in Fortress through its Private Equity Funds II and III), will own 70% of Fortress equity. Ardea Partners served as financial advisors and Shearman & Sterling served as legal counsel to Mubadala.
