The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is considering the closure of its London office.
“Adia is proposing to close its London office. This has no impact on our investments in, and commitment to, the UK, which will continue as before,” a spokesman for the fund said on Monday. The decision is expected to affect fewer than 20 jobs, Sky News reported.
“Insiders” said that the move was unrelated to the oil price slump and was instead motivated by a review of the fund’s operations, which had concluded that the London office was “non-core”.
Adia ranks second behind Norway as the largest fund in the world, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
In June, Adia said that its long-term returns last year rose as world equity and bond markets climbed amid low interest rates and a recovering global economy.
The fund had a 20-year annual rate of return of 7.4 per cent and a 30-year rate of return of 8.4 per cent as of the end of last year, it said. That was up from returns of 7.2 per cent and 8.3 per cent over the same periods, respectively, at the end of 2013.
Adia does not disclose the value of its assets although it provides a breakdown of its holdings by asset class and regions – it invests a minimum of 15 per cent and a maximum of 25 per cent in emerging markets.
Adia last year also increased the size of its staff by 10 per cent to 1,650 from 1,500 at the end of 2013.
The Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute estimates that Adia’s assets are worth approximately US$773 billion.
mkassem@thenational.ae
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