Abu Dhabi's L'imad sovereign wealth fund has joined BlackRock's Global Investment Partners and Singapore's Temasek on a $30bn infrastructure vehicle targeting central Asia and the Middle East. The partnership will deploy a mix of equity and debt capital into energy, logistics, and waste management projects across the Gulf, broader Middle East, and North Africa.

L'imad, chaired by Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, has moved aggressively since its launch. It backed Paramount's proposed takeover of Warner Bros, committed $2.3bn to a Jordan railway project, and absorbed $263bn in assets — including Abu Dhabi's flagship carrier — from the emirate's ADQ entity earlier this year.

The deal arrives at a sensitive moment. Gulf sovereign funds face portfolio pressure following Tehran's military response to the US-Israeli conflict in Iran. At $30bn, the L'imad-led alliance signals Abu Dhabi remains determined to deploy capital at scale, potentially easing concerns that regional instability is dampening Gulf sovereign investment appetite.

Abu Dhabi oversees roughly $2 trillion in sovereign assets across multiple state vehicles and has spent decades cultivating its financial hub credentials. The venture reinforces the emirate's ambition to channel oil wealth into long-term infrastructure returns rather than letting it sit idle.