On Wednesday, 7 October 2026, Carlos Obeid, Chief Financial Officer of Mubadala, participated in the 13th Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore.
Held under the theme “Leading with Intelligence,” the Summit convened more than 1,500 C-suite executives, global investors, policymakers, philanthropists and innovators. Participants included Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore; Chia Der Jiun, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore; Hadi Badri, CEO of Dubai Economic Development Corporation; Ray Dalio, Founder of Bridgewater Associates; Adena Friedman, Chair and CEO of Nasdaq; Pandu Sjahrir, Jenny Johnson, CEO of Franklin Templeton; Hisham Hamdan, Chief Investment Officer of Khazanah Nasional Berhad; and Mohamad Hafiz Kassim, Chief Investment Officer of Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund.
Carlos joined Rohit Sipahimalani, Chief Investment Officer of Temasek, and Jenny Lee, Senior Managing Partner of Granite Asia, for “Global Overview Part 2: Investing Through Global Disruption,” moderated by Sri Jegarajah, Senior Correspondent at CNBC Asia.
The session followed Part 1 of the Global Overview discussion, moving from the forces reshaping the global economy to how leading investors are adapting asset allocation and investment strategies, where they are finding conviction and the opportunities emerging for long-term growth.
Quotes from Carlos Obeid, Chief Financial Officer, Mubadala
- “Our strategy has been aligned with the objectives of the government: generating returns, but at the same time integrating the economy into the global economy. The way we do that is by partnering with the best companies through our private equity investments, both direct and indirect.”
- “We also try to make sure that this concept of resilience — of being able to go through hardship — applies at the level of our portfolio companies, because it’s important for us to continue to invest through the cycle. For example, last year we invested about $39 billion, which is roughly 10% of our portfolio, and our aim is to continue doing that through all cycles. Every year we want to deploy that same amount.”
- “I think the way to approach it is to think about the business model. What do the companies we’re investing in have as the basis of their business model, and how are they able to sustain shocks? It all starts with having the right management team, the right business model, and the proper capital structure in these companies.”
- “For us, Asia is very important. We’ve been trying diligently over the last few years to increase our exposure to Asia. Three years ago, the share of the portfolio invested in Asia was about 10%; it is now about 13%, and we want to do more.”
- “We’ve been present in China, South Korea, Japan and India, and want to grow those exposures, because we believe there are a lot of opportunities across all the strategies and themes. So, we need more in Asia. We have teams on the ground, we are heavily invested in developing a pipeline of opportunities for us, and most of these sectors are important for us.”
Key Themes
Key themes from Carlos’ remarks included:
- Financial strength and flexibility: Mubadala’s financial model is a competitive advantage, with robust liquidity management, disciplined capital recycling and rigorous due diligence allowing it to remain patient, selective and ready to invest through different market cycles.
- Long-term investment themes: Carlos highlighted energy transition, “technology everywhere”, the re-creation of global supply chains and the evolving consumer as four areas shaping Mubadala’s investment approach.
- AI and technology: Carlos highlighted the role of partnerships in accessing frontier opportunities and the need to be careful in how capital is deployed given current valuations, looking across the AI value chain rather than focusing on a single segment.
- Local insight in Asia: Mubadala combines teams and partners on the ground with its global sector expertise and institutional capabilities to understand market dynamics, identify opportunities and build a pipeline across its priority Asian markets.
Overall, the discussion highlighted Mubadala’s long-term approach to investing, its focus on resilience and disciplined capital deployment, and its ambition to do more in Asia.
