Abu Dhabi’s financial centre, the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), will conduct a roadshow in China in mid-February to respond to “overwhelming interest” from businesses to set up shop in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, according to its market development head.
The planned trip follows a July roadshow that visited Shanghai and Hong Kong. During next year’s edition, senior executives of the ADGM, among others, are expected to stop by Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
“There are deep relationships between the two countries,” Arvind Ramamurthy, chief of market development at ADGM, said in an interview on Thursday. “China and the UAE go way back. We see China as a very natural partner for not just the growth of ADGM, but for the growth of a broader regional financial landscape.”
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This year marked the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, which also share a deepening economic relationship.
The emirate’s biggest sovereign wealth funds, such as Mubadala and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, have invested in Chinese firms over the years, while joint ventures were established to expand business synergies.
Large financial markets and similar legal environments contribute to the relationship between Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, Ramamurthy said.
The ADGM adopts an independent, English common-law system to adjudicate civil and commercial disputes, same as the legal system in Hong Kong.
“There’s a lot of collaborative work that happens between us and Hong Kong because of the [English] common law angle,” Ramamurthy said.
He mentioned that the ADGM is in talks with “the largest players” in Hong Kong and in mainland China – both state-owned enterprises and private companies.
“This week alone, I have met with two of the largest private-equity funds coming out of Hong Kong and Asia to set up shop in Abu Dhabi.” He is optimistic that the talks will come to fruition in the next nine to 12 months.
The emirate, which holds 90 per cent of the UAE’s oil reserves and most of the sovereign wealth, has aimed to diversify its economy with ADGM seeking to become an international financial centre.
ADGM’s assets under management surged 215 per cent in the third quarter of this year. Prominent joiners in the quarter included US asset managers PGIM and Nuveen, whose assets under management reached US$1.3 trillion and US$1.2 trillion, respectively, according to the ADGM.
Ramamurthy spoke with the Post on the final day of the four-day Abu Dhabi Finance Week, an annual conference in its third year that attracted more than 20,000 participants, including global financial leaders, corporate and financial institution heads, economists, and investors from more than 100 countries. The event followed the Milken Institute’s Middle East and Africa Summit and the Formula One Abu Dhabi.
Organisers of the finance week put the number of delegates from Hong Kong and China in the hundreds. Chinese firms attending included Hillhouse Investment, Triata Capital, Arte Capital, Raffles Family Office and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.
“I think collaboration is going to go one way, and one way only – which is in the ascendancy,” Ramamurthy said.
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