Hillhouse Investment Management, a $100 billion global alternative asset manager, has opened an office in ADGM, becoming one of the first companies to set up a base in Abu Dhabi’s financial centre since the Iran war began almost five weeks ago.
The Singapore-headquartered company has obtained a Category 3C licence from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Hillhouse said in a statement on Thursday.
The move to Abu Dhabi’s onshore financial hub, one of the fastest growing in the world, underpins the company's long-term “commitment and confidence in the region’s rapidly evolving financial ecosystem”, it added.
A permanent base in the UAE capital will allow the company to boost investment activity and client partnerships in the Arab world’s second largest economy, as well as in markets across the Gulf region, it added.
“We have strong confidence in Abu Dhabi as one of the world’s most important financial and investment hubs," said Adam Hornung, co-chief operating officer at Hillhouse. “Hillhouse has built strong partnerships with investors, businesses and government entities across the region for a number of years [and] this new office will help us continue to strengthen those ties and commitments further.”
US and Israeli strikes on Iran, and Tehran’s attacks on its Arab neighbours, have disrupted businesses and hit the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors. However, cross-border deal-making, investment flows in out of the region and long-term capital commitments remain uninterrupted.
“As one of the world’s largest private alternative asset managers, their [Hillhouse’s] decision to establish a regional presence in ADGM reflects Abu Dhabi’s stature as one of the top global financial centres and reinforces its position as a stable and trusted destination for global businesses,” said ADGM chairman Ahmed Al Zaabi.
Hillhouse invests through hedge funds, as well as private equity, real estate and private credit deals. It has already invested in the UAE through several deals, including Virtuzone and Clara, through its business services platform Ascentium. Hillhouse is also an investor in the Hartland International School and North London Collegiate School in Dubai.
The company said its Abu Dhabi office would “further strengthen the firm’s ability to source opportunities, execute investments and partner with local stakeholders”.
Founded in 2005 with initial funding from a Yale University endowment, Hillhouse invests on behalf of institutional clients, including university endowments, foundations and sovereign wealth funds, across the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Continued growth
The company is the latest in a long list of some of the world’s biggest asset and money managers, global lenders and investment banks, insurers and FinTech companies that have set base in the UAE capital.
On Tuesday, ADGM, which is at the heart of Abu Dhabi’s ambition to diversify its economy away from hydrocarbons, reported a 36 per cent jump in assets under management as it marked a decade of operations, amid a sustained flow of capital and talent to the emirate.
More than 170 asset and fund managers, which together manage 244 funds, called ADGM home at the end of the last year. A total of 347 financial institutions are now based in ADGM, 80 of which were licensed last year, according to the latest data.
Some of the high-profile financial entities that set up offices at ADGM last year include Kimmeridge, Fortress, Polen Capital, Adams Street, Arcapita, Aquila Group, Germany’s DWS, Harrison Street, KKR, Monroe Capital, Plenary ME Infrastructure Partners and Swiss bank UBS Group, as well as one of Europe’s oldest wealth managers, Julius Baer.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority, the regulator of ADGM, has also issued 120 in-principle approvals for companies, a 32 per cent year-on-year rise, while it also granted 94 new financial services permissions to entities.
Carrying on the growth momentum over the past few years, the number of active licences in ADGM exceeded 12,000 at the end of 2025, a 30 per cent annual increase. The number of people employed by the companies in the financial hub also rose by 51 per cent year-on-year to 44,339.
