A trio of Middle Eastern funds have agreed to stump up $24 billion to help bankroll Paramount Skydance Corp.’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. The region’s exposure to the deal is likely larger, once its deep ties to private equity firms behind the bid are factored in.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the Qatar Investment Authority joined the relatively-unknown Abu Dhabi firm L’imad Holding Co. to bankroll the hostile offer earlier this week. The funds are overseen by wealthy Gulf states that have long supplied large amounts of capital to global buyout firms.
One example is Apollo Global Management Inc., which is among firms providing as much as $54 billion of financing for the Paramount offer. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. has a long-standing relationship with Apollo, and the PIF’s venture arm has invested in funds run by the US firm.
The Saudi wealth fund, alongside the QIA and Abu Dhabi’s Lunate, has also steered billions of dollars into Affinity Partners. Jared Kushner’s firm has ties to Mubadala too, after jointly investing in a Brazil-based fast-food firm alongside a unit of the Emirati entity.
Their play for Warner Bros. comes just months after the PIF partnered with Affinity on another eye-catching bid, a $55 billion buyout of Electronic Arts Inc. Kushner connected the two sides, and played a central role in the talks, Bloomberg News reported at that time.
