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Abu Dhabi SWFs keep on recruiting
11 June 2009
The Abu Dhabi Investment Company, which has been on something of a hiring spree this year, has rolled out four new equities funds in a bid to attract international investors and reinvented itself as Invest AD. It also looks set to continue recruiting.
The new funds are an attempt to lure institutional investors to the MENA region, which Invest AD chairman, Khalifa Al Kindi describes as a "phenomenal investment opportunity".
So far this year, the firm has hired Samir Assaad Samaan from NBK Capital as head of private equity, Anders Ljungqvist to lead the new proprietary investment arm, Thierry Gimonnet from Goldman Sachs as head of finance, Alex Carré de Malberg from Rothschild as head of its new M&A advisory business and says it is also ramping up graduate recruitment.
Chief executive Nazem Fawwaz Al Kudsi, said in March: “As we expand, I’m happy we can attract high quality staff, both locally and internationally.”
Headhunters say the firm is making good on its promises. One executive search firm working with Invest AD says: "They've been expanding aggressively all year, at both a senior level and lower down the ranks. We're still receiving mandates for them for key hires in the near future."
Similarly, another headhunter tells us they continue to see a steady flow of roles from Invest AD's much larger neighbour, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. However, the only high-profile hire this year is Bill Schwab as head of real estate from JPMorgan.
As well as the front office staff, recruiters tell us that SWFs are also hiring for roles around internal regulation and risk management.
While recent recruits show that bankers from top firms are now keen to move to SWFs, there's still a lot of emphasis placed on investment banks developing relationships with them.
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch's outgoing president of its Middle East operations, Fares Noujaim, worked heavily with SWFs and his tipped replacement, Saeed Maghdoori, will likely do the same.
Similarly, Morgan Stanley shifted three bankers out to Dubai in April last year to befriend SWF clients, and Deutsche Bank hired a nine-man steering committee to focus on sovereign funds.
The Abu Dhabi SWFs, banks, family offices and asset management are causing a major brain drain at Dubai's DIFC by bidding all the talent from the international banks established there. Executives there insecure with the misfortunes of their parent companies in the US, UK and Europe aren't thinking twice to jump to these powerhouses. Meanwhile Abu Dhabi consious of that isn't hesitating one second to take advantage of the favourable trend.
Expat 11 Jun 2009
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