General Atlantic, a US-based private equity firm, is expanding its operations in the Middle East by launching a second office in Abu Dhabi. The company has already invested $1 billion in the region.
The company’s new base of operations led to a recent announcement at the end of October to establish its presence in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
The corporation, which manages assets worth over $100 billion, stated that its recent action “reflects its commitment to partnering with investors and entrepreneurs” in the second-largest economy in the Arab world.
It stated that its “conviction in attractive opportunities” available in rapidly expanding regional economies is further supported by expanding its footprint in the larger Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey region.
ADGM is one of the fastest-growing onshore financial hubs in the area, and General Atlantic is the most recent of foreign financial institutions, asset managers, family offices, international funds, and investors to establish a base there.
Chicago-based Nuveen, which handles roughly $1.2 trillion of AUMs, finalized its registration with ADGM in September this year to capitalise on a developing wealthy investor base in the UAE.
After PGIM, Prudential Financial’s global asset management subsidiary with $1.33 trillion in assets, opened its office earlier that month, the 125-year-old company became the second asset manager with a 13-figure AUM to call Abu Dhabi home.
The largest asset management in the world, BlackRock, was also granted a business license to conduct business in Abu Dhabi last month.
By the conclusion of the third quarter, there were 128 asset and fund managers working inside the jurisdiction, overseeing 156 funds. According to the most recent ADGM data, the AUMs of businesses based in the financial center have tripled, increasing by 215% annually over the last three months.
General Atlantic, a New York-based company that makes investments in growing businesses, stated that its Abu Dhabi office will be essential to boosting its expansion in the area and facilitating collaborations and interactions with businesses in its primary investment categories, which include consumer, technology, financial services, health care, and climate.
Since 2012, the company has made significant investments in the Middle East and North Africa, having invested more than $1 billion in businesses such as regional eyewear retailer Eyewa, AI platform Insider, online real estate platform Property Finder, and regional e-commerce marketplace Trendyol.
The business has previously invested in Yemeksepeti, an online marketplace for ordering food that was sold to Delivery Hero, and Network International, a provider of payment solutions with headquarters in the United Arab Emirates.
The Menat continues to be a key pillar of the firm’s worldwide expansion strategies since, according to the corporation, the Middle Eastern economies alone have the “potential to unlock around $1 trillion in additional GDP through greater economic diversification” and are predicted to rise by roughly 4% in 2025 and 2026.
With the UAE’s digital economy expected to rise by $140 billion by 2031, it is also a major economic engine in the region. In order to achieve the national objective of doubling the digital economy’s share of the UAE’s non-oil GDP into over 20% during the next ten years, the country has made large investments in digital transformation across all sectors, it continued.
Samir Assaf was appointed chairman of General Atlantic’s Mena unit last year in an effort to boost regional investment.
In light of the Middle East’s drive for green energy and its aspirations for global hydrogen, the company earlier this year bought sustainable investment firm Actis, which is also assessing a number of transactions in the region.
In October, Torbjorn Caesar, the chairman of Actis, told The National that the company’s pipeline of possible investment projects in the area is expanding.
We’re looking at agreements in the area for power generation and distribution, district cooling, and distributed generation, which includes solar rooftop type [properties]. We’re really active here. We really enjoy these sectors, and we have more in the works,” he said.
We are currently examining four active deals that the company anticipates closing next year, he continued. He kept the potential deals’ size and financial value a secret.
