Alpha Dhabi Holding is open to seeking more opportunities in the hospitality sector as part of its push to grow its international portfolio, a senior executive has said.
The company, which is part of Abu Dhabi's International Holding Company (IHC), generated Dh7.7 billion ($2.1 billion) in revenue from its overseas portfolio companies in the first nine months of 2026, which is more than 13 per cent of its total revenue, it reported this week.
“We will remain central to our investment approach alongside disciplined international expansion,” Alpha Dhabi Holding's chief investment and strategy officer Derek Nicholson told The National on Tuesday.
“Our hospitality is an area where we can grow internationally … we look for opportunities that build on our capabilities and we're not here just to expand, for its own sake,” he said.
Alpha Dhabi, which manages a portfolio of more than 250 public and private investments across 45 countries, has two hospitality units – National Corporation for Tourism and Hotels, and ADMO Lifestyle, the latter of which expanded in Egypt by acquiring the Nammos brand.
The Egypt venture is a “model where we are investors deploying the capital and we are the owners of the IP [intellectual property]”, Mr Nicholson said.
He said this was an asset model to expand internationally and had given the group diversification “but we will continue to remain selective and focused on where we believe that we can generate long-term value”.
Alpha Dhabi's net profit attributable to owners of the company for the nine months that ended on September 30 jumped nearly 41 per cent year-on-year to Dh7.78 billion, as revenue grew 6 per cent to about Dh58.3 billion.
Last week, Alpha Dhabi Holding said it had signed an agreement to commit $1 billion for investments in artificial intelligence companies around the globe, investing through the Alpha Wave Global-managed fund Alpha Wave III.
Mr Nicholson said Alpha Wave III was a “long-term investment theme” that also showed the “quality” of the companies New York-based Alpha Wave Global could source.
Those companies include AI majors OpenAI and Anthropic, and Elon Musk's SpaceX. The venture fund will give Alpha Dhabi indirect exposure to the tech heavyweights.
“When [Alpha Wave Global] approached us with Alpha Wave III, we decided that we wanted to continue our commitment to this sector,” Mr Nicholson said.
“We see multi-trillion dollar investment over the next three to five years, and this is a theme where we think there are still opportunities to find best in class companies that are leaders in the sector.”
In August, Alpha Dhabi, which was established in 2013, doubled its shareholding and capital commitment in its private credit joint venture with the UAE capital's sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala Investment Company.
