SWF focus: #UAE’s revamped ADIA targets infrastructure, healthcare for long-term returns

SWF focus: UAE’s revamped ADIA targets infrastructure, healthcare for long-term returns

Long considered a cautious, inscrutable investor, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) now seems intent on shedding that reputation.

This year, it has increased its exposure to Indian real estate and healthcare; it has also signed a multi-billion-dollar deal for a European transport firm and joined a consortium attempting to buy an Australian hospital operator.

ADIA has $708.8 billion in assets under management, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. Much of its recent private investments have focused on emerging markets in Asia; it only invests abroad.

“ADIA believes in the long-term growth of India’s middle class; it’s investing on a 20-year timeframe or longer,” said Javier Capapé, Director of Sovereign Wealth Research at the Center for the Governance of Change, IE University.

In June, ADIA agreed to pay 22 billion rupees for a 20% stake in India’s IIFL Home Finance, which provides property and construction loans. In a statement announcing the deal, an ADIA official highlighted the prospects for India’s “under-served and fast-growing affordable housing finance market”.