DUBAI Reuters : Abu Dhabi state holding company ADQ has hired scores of investment bankers from foreign banks in the past year as it accelerates dealmaking in the United Arab Emirates and overseas, three sources familiar with the matter said.
ADQ, the third largest sovereign wealth fund, has hired banking consultants from mostly foreign banks and investment management firms in recent months, the sources said. Its cadre had already hired more than 20 former executives from Mubadala, another large state investment firm.
ADQ is active. They were 24 last year and are now 120, according to a senior investment banker who spoke on condition of anonymity due to commercial sensibilities Recent new hires include former HSBC banker Ayman Anwar, former HSBC banker Abhay Kumar, who also worked at ADNOC Distribution overseeing M&A, and ex-HSBC investment banker Hassan Abdelhamid, the sources said. The bankers' LinkedIn profiles also showed that they had moved to ADQ.
The ADQ has also appointed in June Ex-Standard Chartered Private Equity Executive Alok Elias and former Bank of America Merrill Lynch banker Silvia Barbarino in April.
The hiring spree comes as the fund's appetite for deals at home and abroad has been growing and it pursues its objective of monetising some of the state assets through listings.
It teamed up with UAE's Aldar Properties in a bid to acquire up to 90% of Egyptian property developer SODIC, which currently values the company at $453 million.
ADQ was formed in 2018 with a portfolio of key strategic assets such as Abu Dhabi Ports. Over time it has consolidated state assets in industrial and agriculture sectors.
Lately, ADQ has poured money into future listing candidates such as the Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart and acquired Swiss pharmaceutical brand Acino, deals that Mubadala - a larger Abu Dhabi wealth fund is known for executing. It also bought a stake in commodities trading firm Louis Dreyfus.
Mubadala has renamed itself in 2017 to become a focus global investment company, with ADQ removing the development role from its name, a year before this was formed. Al-Suwaidi has also joined ADQ from Mubadala's chief executive Mohamed Al-Suwaidi.
The "ADQ is actually looking more like Mubadala every day", said Diego Lopez, managing director of industry data specialist Global SWF.
Not only is ADQ extensive hiring from its sister organisation at least 23 staff, including its CEO but its investment strategy is very much aligned.