Over the past year, the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi has explored a string of ambitious acquisitions in the international banking sector in an attempt to become a global financial powerhouse. None have panned out so far.
The Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ held preliminary talks to acquire boutique investment bank Lazard Ltd. at the start of the year, according to people familiar with the matter. The discussions quickly fell apart over differences about the future independence of the 175-year old Wall Street firm, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.
Around the same time, First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC was said to weigh an offer of as much as $35 billion for Britain’s Standard Chartered Plc. It had tried to buy Egypt’s biggest investment bank in 2022. Neither of those deals materialized.
Royal Group, chaired by United Arab Emirates National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, considered a possible takeover of the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank following its collapse, people familiar with the matter said in March. The unit was ultimately purchased by HSBC Holdings Plc for £1 ($1.3).
Abu Dhabi has succeeded in pulling off some niche deals in the financial industry, but there’s no sense that it is likely to stop looking for a big deal. The emirate manages about $1.5 trillion of sovereign wealth and is also home to funds such as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Mubadala Investment Co. The expansion is being driven by the ambition of the ruling Al Nahyan family — and in particular Sheikh Tahnoon — to win more global heft for the emirate, as well as the need to find new avenues for its banking sector to grow.
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