Capital Letter is Frank Kane’s weekly series on Abu Dhabi’s money, power and ambition
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) turned 50 this year – nearly as old as the UAE. The remarkable thing is how little its purpose has changed in that half century.
Across the Gulf, sovereign wealth funds have evolved into some of the most powerful and dynamic instruments of economic policy in the world. They build industries and cities, create national champions, attract foreign investment, and help shape the hydrocarbon economies they were originally established to protect.
But Adia’s mission remains essentially the one it was given in 1976: to invest funds on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government to sustain the emirate’s long-term prosperity. By the increasingly flamboyant standards of the SWF universe, that may seem low-key, even boring.
Its latest annual Review, published last week, was a reminder that Adia remains close to the original sovereign wealth fund proposition: to take the proceeds of hydrocarbon resources, invest them globally and prudently, and compound that wealth for future generations.
It is also enormous. Adia does not disclose its assets under management (AUM), but the con...