Vista Equity Partners, the tech-focused US private equity company that manages $107 billion in assets, has opened its office at ADGM, further growing the number of investment majors choosing Abu Dhabi for their regional base.
The entity, VEPM Middle East Limited, will allow Austin, Texas-based advise and arrange deals in the region, where investment activity, especially in the UAE, remains strong despite the regional conflict, ADGM said on Thursday.
Vista is one of the largest asset managers focused on enterprise software and artificial intelligence. It has been operating for more than a quarter of a century and has more than 90 portfolio companies, including Finastra, Forcepoint and KnowBe4, according to its website.
Abu Dhabi is also Vista's second overseas venture, after Hong Kong. It also has offices in Chicago, New York and San Francisco.
The move “reflects Abu Dhabi’s growing role as a global hub for capital and innovation”, said Arvind Ramamurthy, ADGM's chief market development officer.
It also “underscores the strength of ADGM’s internationally recognised regulatory framework and business-friendly environment”, he added.
A base in Abu Dhabi provides global investors and money managers with opportunities to expand their regional operations and work closely with some of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, as well as large family offices and institutional investors.
The UAE capital is home to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Mubadala Investment Company and the recently created L'imad, which has taken control of the investment holding company ADQ.
The emirate continues to attract high-profile companies, including Man Group, the world’s largest listed hedge fund, Barings, which has $418 billion in assets under management, and Bain Capital, which has $215 billion.
A number of trillion-dollar asset managers have also chosen ADGM as its base for operations, including BlackRock, State Street, Prudential Financial's global asset management unit PGIM, Chicago investment company Nuveen and, last week, Capital Group, which manages $3.3 trillion in assets.
More than 170 asset and fund managers, who together manage 244 funds, called ADGM home at the end of last year. A total of 347 financial institutions are based in ADGM, 80 of which were licensed last year, according to the latest data.
In recent months, ADGM has attracted money managers, global lenders and investment banks, insurers and FinTech companies, despite the geopolitical headwinds and war in the region.
“The Middle East, and Abu Dhabi in particular, has demonstrated extraordinary ambition in building the digital infrastructure to lead in this new landscape,” said Robert Smith, founder, chairman and chief executive of Vista.
ADGM reported a 36 per cent rise in AUMs last year as it marked a decade of operations, amid a sustained flow of capital and talent to the emirate.
