BlackRock’s GIP teams up with Temasek, Abu Dhabi heavyweights to target $30 billion in infrastructure deals

(Corrects attribution of quote in paragraph 7 to the companies, not Temasek Global Investments CEO)

DUBAI, May 14 (Reuters) – BlackRock’s GIP has partnered with Singapore’s Temasek and Abu Dhabi’s newest wealth fund L’IMAD and state oil firm ADNOC to launch an infrastructure partnership targeting $30 billion of investment across the Gulf and Central Asia, the companies said in a joint statement on Thursday.

The partnership will raise a combination of equity and debt capital to target investments in greenfield and brownfield infrastructure assets across sectors including energy, transportation and logistics.

It will also consider select investments within the wider Middle East and North Africa region, the firms said, without disclosing a fundraising timeline or the equity split among the founding partners.

The announcement brings together some of the region’s most active infrastructure capital allocators alongside one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers. BlackRock completed its acquisition of GIP in 2024 in a deal that valued the infrastructure specialist at around $12.5 billion. 

It also shows continued interest for infrastructure assets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) amid the Iran war, which has led to a shock in global energy markets and disrupted business in the region.

Reuters reported last month that more lenders were working on a potential $7 billion stake sale in Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s crude oil pipeline network, while last year Saudi Arabia’s Aramco signed an $11 billion deal for infrastructure around its Jafurah gas project with a GIP-led consortium.

“The partnership also reflects continued global investor interest in the UAE and the wider region, as destinations for long-term capital, supported by strong macroeconomic fundamentals, a growing pipeline of investable opportunities and an increasingly mature investment landscape,” the firms said in the statement. 

A $15 billion investment pipeline was announced in Abu Dhabi this week to attract private funding for infrastructure projects.

“Infrastructure forms one of the key pillars of our investment strategy, especially in markets where demand is underpinned by structural trends,” said L’IMAD’s managing director and CEO Jassem Bu Ataba Al Zaabi. 

L’IMAD, which burst onto the global scene last December, has since turned into an investment heavyweight with assets worth and estimated $300 billion. 

($1 = 3.6723 UAE dirham)

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni and Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by Kim Coghill)