Global investment manager Fortress, backed by the UAE’s Mubadala Investment Company, and Kimmeridge, a New York-based alternative asset manager focused on the energy sector, also with ties to Mubadala, will open offices in Abu Dhabi's financial free zone to explore regional deals.
With the move, the two US companies will join a stream of international firms tapping into the Middle East's growing investment scene.
US-based Fortress, which has $50 billion in assets under management, has received permission from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at ADGM to undertake activities, it said on Wednesday.
The company said it will use its base in Abu Dhabi’s financial centre to expand its local footprint, deepen relationships with regional investors and accelerate co-investment across private credit, real estate and asset-based strategies.
“Our decision to establish an office in Abu Dhabi is a strategic step that reflects our conviction in the Gulf as a long-term investment and capital partner,” said Drew McKnight, co-chief executive and managing partner at Fortress.
“The region is increasingly influential in shaping the future of global private markets.”
In 2023, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s strategic investment arm, announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Fortress. The deal was completed in May last year.
Fortress is the latest addition to a growing list of asset managers, insurers, financial institutions and investment houses that have set up office in Abu Dhabi, as the UAE capital continues to boosts the financial sector to support its economic diversification plans.
ADGM, established in 2015, is one of the world's fastest-growing financial districts. It has recorded rapid growth as Abu Dhabi focuses on attracting more international companies and investors. Some of the major names within the asset management sector that have been granted financial services licences include BlackRock, Stonepeak, AXA IM, PGIM, Eiffel Investment ME, GQG Partners, SS & C Financial Services and Morgan Stanley.
ADGM has announced new measures to attract more companies to the financial centre. Last year, the free zone said it planned to cut commercial registration licence fees for certain categories while raising them for others, as part of its transitional strategy after the financial district expanded to include Reem Island under its jurisdiction.
New York-based BlackRock, the world's top asset manager with nearly $11.5 trillion in assets under management, in November received a commercial licence to operate in ADGM.
In September, Stonepeak, a US-based alternative investment company, with $71.2 billion of assets under management, received regulatory approval to set up base at ADGM, to arrange and advise on investment opportunities in the UAE.
Also in September, ADGM welcomed its first trillion-dollar asset managers: PGIM, the global asset management business of the New York Stock Exchange-listed Prudential Financial, and Chicago investment firm Nuveen, with both aiming to expand their operations and client bases in the Middle East.
Last month, Fortress Investment Group and Mubadala entered into a partnership to invest $1 billion from Mubadala in a range of Fortress’s existing private credit, asset-based lending and real estate strategies alongside Fortress’s existing pools of capital.
The ADGM office will serve as a “key hub” for executing on that mandate and exploring new opportunities across the region, Fortress said.
“Being on the ground in the Gulf gives us a direct connection to some of the world’s most forward-looking institutional partners and enables us to collaborate with greater scale and speed,” said Joshua Pack, co-chief executive and managing partner at Fortress.
Founded in 1998, Fortress invests on behalf of approximately 2,000 institutional clients and private investors across credit and real estate, private equity and permanent capital investment strategies.
Meanwhile, Kimmeridge, which also has offices in Denver and London, received a category 4 licence from ADGM’s FSRA for its Abu Dhabi office to advise and arrange transactions and investments, it said on Wednesday.
The new ADGM office strengthens Kimmeridge’s role as a “gateway for energy investments” between the US, the UAE and the wider region, the company said.
The move follows Mubadala Energy acquiring a stake in a company backed by Kimmeridge last month in a bid to enter the US upstream gas market. The energy unit of the UAE capital's sovereign wealth fund acquired a 24.1 per cent interest in Kimmeridge’s SoTex HoldCo, giving it access to two portfolio companies in two US states.
As part of opening the new office in Abu Dhabi, Mansoor Al Hamed, managing director and chief executive of Mubadala Energy, and Benjamin Dell, managing partner of Kimmeridge, signed a preliminary agreement for further collaboration on natural gas and liquefied natural gas investments.
The initial pact would provide the framework for “future collaboration”, he said.
Kimmeridge’s team in the Middle East will be headed by Faycal Benjelloun, managing director and head of Middle East, who joins from Mubadala Capital.
