Silver Lake invests in Abu Dhabi’s AI and cloud computing company G42

Group 42, the Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company, secured a "substantial" investment from US-based private equity manager Silver Lake.

As part of the deal, Silver Lake's managing partner and co-chief executive Egon Durban will join G42's board, the business said. Neither the size of the stake or the amount invested were disclosed.

“We are honoured to partner with a world-class investor like Silver Lake and proud to be amongst their cutting-edge portfolio of technology leaders,” said G42's leader Peng Xiao.

“We aim to work with the best technologies and the very best partners to provide value to every market on the planet. Our business verticals range from energy, to healthcare, to finance … now could be the proper time to partner with Silver Lake to help expand expand our possibilities,” he added.

G42, which owns and operates the world’s 26th-most powerful supercomputer, is undertaking high-level fundamental and applied research into AI and also developing cloud computing for the most demanding use cases. Proceeds from Silver Lake’s investment, reported by the Wall Street Journal to be worth about $800 million, will be utilized to greatly help it scale its businesses in the UAE and in international markets, G42 said.

Last month, the business partnered with British outsourcing company Serco to market the adoption of technology by government clients in the Middle East and drive a shift towards data-driven operations.

G42 has swiftly become a globally respected technology leader, poised to increase its leadership in AI and digital transformation, Mr Durban said.

“G42 has not only experienced tremendous growth recently, but did so by partnering with large-scale clients to address the most complex technology challenges. We are excited to have this possibility to use them,” he added.

Silver Lake, which specialises in technology investments, is a Silicon Valley-based investor with an increase of than $79 billion of committed capital and assets under management. It has committed to a number of the world's best-known technology companies including Airbnb, Ant Financial, Expedia Group and Twitter.

Its portfolio of companies collectively generate a lot more than $191bn of earnings a year and employ more than 441,000 people all over the world.

In September this past year, Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala Investment Company invested $2bn into Silver Lake as the companies decided to partner on a long-term investment strategy spanning for 25 years. Mubadala also took a minority stake in the company.