Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has won the support of the US$445 billion Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which has contributed US$375 million to his buyout.
Musk is buying Twitter for US$44 billion, funded in part by the sale of US$8.5 billion worth of Tesla shares.
According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Qatari sovereign wealth fund is one of several funds pledging a total of US$7.14 billion. One surprise backer is Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), which is contributing US$1.9 billion investment in Twitter, despite its CEO Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud previously rejecting Musk’s takeover bid – it is unclear what changed his mind.
Public filings show that state-owned investors’ stakes would be worth a total of around US$1 billion on sale to the tycoon, indicating that their exposure to the takeover is relatively small and profits are likely to be small. The biggest stake is owned by Norges Bank (NBIM), which manages Norway’s world-leading US$1.24 trillion Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG). NBIM’s shareholding will be worth US$393 million in the buyout – less than US$20 million more than QIA’s pledged investment.
QIA is picking up its pace of tech-related private equity investments. In February, it committed US$1.5 billion to Bodhi Tree for consumer technology opportunities in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on India. The partnership will double down QIA’s private market portfolio in the country.
Since the beginning of the year, the SWF completed smaller VC investments that continue the pattern of 2021: a Series D in payments solution provider Checkout.com, a Series E in Malaysia’s car e-commerce platform Carsome, a Series K in Indian online food ordering platform Swiggy, and a Series D in Singaporean marketing tech company Insider. Seen in this context, the Twitter investment fits in a pattern of investment across a broad range of tech sectors.
