The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority holds directly, or through its subsidiaries, investments across various asset classes including equities, fixed income, real estate and private equity. Delores Johnson / The National
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority holds directly, or through its subsidiaries, investments across various asset classes including equities, fixed income, real estate and private equity. Delores Johnson / The National
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority holds directly, or through its subsidiaries, investments across various asset classes including equities, fixed income, real estate and private equity. Delores Johnson / The National
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority holds directly, or through its subsidiaries, investments across various asset classes including equities, fixed income, real estate and private equity. Delores Johns

Abu Dhabi's Adia invests in food industry fund McWin and China's Taibang Biologic


Deena Kamel
  • English
  • Arabic

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the emirate's sovereign wealth fund, has led funding rounds by European restaurant investment firm McWin and China's biopharmaceutical company Taibang Biologic Group.

Adia is the primary limited partner for McWin Restaurant Fund, which has secured initial funding commitments of €500 million ($512m) to invest in restaurants, the private investment company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The fund is launched by food industry investors Henry McGovern and Steven Winegar, who have backed brands including Italian restaurant chain Vapiano and UK-based bakeries Gail's.

The deal brings the total capital managed by McWin, which oversees a €250m FoodTech fund and a food ecosystem fund that will close in the third quarter at €300m, to more than €1 billion.

The Adia-backed McWin Restaurant Fund will focus on larger investments with a ticket size of at least €100m, according to the statement.

"We view the partnership with Adia as a long-term strategic relationship to unlock sustainable long-term value across the hospitality sector," Henry McGovern, co-founder of McWin, said.

"Our operating experience and hands-on approach is the perfect value proposition for national brands that want access to a Europe-wide platform to scale their operations and grow beyond their borders.”

Established in 1976, Adia, which invests on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government, makes direct and indirect investments across asset classes including equities, fixed income, infrastructure, private equity and real estate.

Adia subsidiary Platinum Orchid, along with Singapore's sovereign wealth investment fund GIC, also led a fund-raising round by China's Taibang Biologic Group.

The biopharmaceuticals company raised $$300m ($216.5m) from a group of investors that also included state-owned China Life Private Equity Investment ad Cinda Kunpeng (Shenzhen) Investment Management Company.

Taibang Biologic manufactures and sells plasma-derived products and other biopharmaceuticals, according to its website. Founded in 2002, the company was listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in 2009 before completing its approximately $4.8bn privatisation in April 2021.

Proceeds from the Adia-backed financing round will help to optimise the group’s capital structure, solidify its position in the domestic market, expand its plasma stations and grow the research and development of new products, Taibang Biologic said.

This will allow the group to achieve "more rapid and sustainable growth" in the Chinese market, the statement said.

The latest funding round is Taibang Biologic's first equity financing deal since the completion of its privatisation last year by a consortium led by Chinese private equity firm Centurium Capital.

Last year, Adia, one of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds, said it is well-placed to capitalise on future investment opportunities after successfully navigating Covid-19 pandemic-driven headwinds.

Adia's 30-year annualised rate of return at the end of 2020 reached 7.2 per cent on a point-to-point basis, compared with 6.6 per cent in 2019, according to its 2020 annual report. Its 20-year annualised rate of return climbed to 6 per cent, from 4.8 per cent in 2019.

Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh590,000

THE SPECS

Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre

Transmission: Seven-speed auto

Power: 165hp

Torque: 241Nm

Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000

On sale: now

Company Profile

Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million

THE BIO

Bio Box

Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul

Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader

Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet

Favorite food: seafood

Favorite place to travel: Lebanon

Favorite movie: Braveheart

LILO & STITCH

Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders

Director: Dean Fleischer Camp

Rating: 4.5/5

What drives subscription retailing?

Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.

The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.

The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.

The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.

UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.

That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.

Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.

Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

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Going grey? A stylist's advice

If you’re going to go grey, a great style, well-cared for hair (in a sleek, classy style, like a bob), and a young spirit and attitude go a long way, says Maria Dowling, founder of the Maria Dowling Salon in Dubai.
It’s easier to go grey from a lighter colour, so you may want to do that first. And this is the time to try a shorter style, she advises. Then a stylist can introduce highlights, start lightening up the roots, and let it fade out. Once it’s entirely grey, a purple shampoo will prevent yellowing.
“Get professional help – there’s no other way to go around it,” she says. “And don’t just let it grow out because that looks really bad. Put effort into it: properly condition, straighten, get regular trims, make sure it’s glossy.”

LIKELY TEAMS

South Africa
Faf du Plessis (captain), Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Lungi Ngidi.

India (from)
Virat Kohli (captain), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wkt), Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.

Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Bundesliga fixtures

Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)

Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm) 

RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm) 

Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm) 

Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn  (4.30pm) 

Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm) 

Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)

Sunday, May 17

Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),

Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)

Monday, May 18

Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)

Defence review at a glance

• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels

MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

What is graphene?

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.

It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.

Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.

By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.

At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.

It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.

But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.

In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties. 

 

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UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

Updated: August 02, 2022, 2:43 PM`