Mubadala-Backed ADCP Is Bringing Fund Managers to #AbuDhabi - Bloomberg

Mubadala-Backed ADCP Is Bringing Fund Managers to Abu Dhabi - Bloomberg

Unlike most of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investors, which manage more than $1.5 trillion of assets, Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners is aiming to generate much more than profit for its owners.

A key part of the mandate for ADCP — a joint venture between the $276 billion Mubadala Investment Co. and Alpha Wave Global — is to encourage firms to set up in Abu Dhabi Global Market, the emirate’s main business zone, in return for investment.

“The idea is how do you invest in businesses and managers and then also support the ADGM ecosystem by having them set up a real presence in Abu Dhabi,” Fatima Al Noaimi, co-head of Mubadala Capital Solutions, which includes ADCP, said in an interview. Such a commitment means that companies backed by ADCP need to “build a meaningful investment or operational presence” in the financial center, she said.

ADCP has invested in 29 companies since it was set up in 2019, and is helping to create about 400 new jobs in ADGM. Out of the $1.7 billion in capital it has received from its shareholders, it has spent around $1.3 billion, Al Noaimi said. This year, ADCP is aiming to complete four to eight new transactions and is in talks with several “big international names,” she said, declining to reveal any names.

ADCP said on Thursday it made a strategic investment in French private equity firm Ardian’s secondaries fund. As part of the deal, Ardian, which already has a presence in ADGM, has committed to expand within the hub. In recent years, the two parties have been investing in each other’s funds and Ardian was an anchor investor in Mubadala Capital.