DUBAI — Abu Dhabi has a new player showing up in major international deals, and it’s making waves in Hollywood. L’imad Holding Co., a government-owned investment firm, is part of a group of Middle Eastern investors helping finance Paramount Skydance’s offer to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, according to a U.S. SEC regulatory filing.
L’imad is one of Abu Dhabi’s newer state investment vehicles, and while it’s been gaining visibility locally—it recently became the controlling shareholder of Modon Holding after buying big chunks of shares from IHC—this marks one of its first significant moves into international transactions.
It’s a sign that Abu Dhabi is continuing to expand its investment platforms beyond the well-established sovereign funds everyone already knows about.
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Who Else Is In?
L’imad isn’t going it alone. The financing group reads like a who’s who of Gulf capital and well-connected players. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is in. So is the Qatar Investment Authority. And then there’s Affinity Partners, the private equity firm founded by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
According to Paramount’s tender offer, these outside investors would participate through non-voting equity and wouldn’t get governance rights, including board seats, if the deal goes through. That structure is important because it means the deal won’t need a review by CFIUS, the U.S. foreign-investment watchdog that looks at national-security concerns.
In other words, these investors are putting up money but won’t have voting power or control, so the transaction doesn’t trigger the kind of scrutiny that often slows down or kills deals involving foreign capital.
Why Warner Bros. Picked Netflix Instead
Warner Bros. Discovery’s board actually selected a competing offer from Netflix, and analysts widely noted that part of the appeal was that Netflix’s bid didn’t involve foreign financing. That meant no potential CFIUS review, which can be a headache—or worse, a dealbreaker.
Interestingly, Tencent Holdings, the Chinese tech giant that had earlier indicated support for the Paramount Skydance bid, is no longer part of the financing group, according to the filing. Whether that’s related to regulatory concerns or something else isn’t clear, but it’s notable.
The Battle Isn’t Over
Paramount CEO David Ellison has made it clear the company might raise its offer. In a recent interview, he said the current $30-per-share proposal isn’t the final price. Both Paramount and Netflix are expected to keep adjusting their bids as this takeover battle heats up.
This kind of back-and-forth is typical in hostile bids, where competing offers push the price higher and both sides try to sweeten the deal enough to win over shareholders.
Kushner’s Firm Keeps Showing Up
Affinity Partners has become a recurring presence in major deals involving Gulf capital. Earlier this year, Kushner’s firm joined Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia’s PIF in a $55 billion agreement to take Electronic Arts private—the largest private-equity buyout on record.
Reporting has suggested Kushner helped establish early connections between Silver Lake and PIF leadership during discussions around that transaction. Whether that’s the case or not, it’s clear Affinity Partners has positioned itself as a bridge between Gulf investors and major U.S. deals.
Abu Dhabi’s Expanding Investment Reach
L’imad’s involvement in the Paramount Skydance proposal highlights how Abu Dhabi is diversifying its investment toolkit. The emirate’s established sovereign wealth funds—ADIA, Mubadala, and ADQ—are still the heavy hitters anchoring the UAE’s international portfolio. But newer vehicles like L’imad, MGX, XRG, and Lunate are broadening the government’s reach into emerging sectors and large-scale transactions.
It’s a strategic shift. Rather than putting all its eggs in the baskets of its well-known funds, Abu Dhabi is creating new entities with different focuses and flexibility. That allows the government to move faster, take different kinds of risks, and participate in deals that might not fit the mandates of the older funds.
For now, the Paramount-Warner Bros. saga is still unfolding. But Abu Dhabi’s presence in the financing group—alongside Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kushner’s firm—shows how Gulf capital continues to play an increasingly central role in major global transactions, including some of the biggest battles in Hollywood.
