DUBAI (Reuters) – Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the United Arab Emirates’ biggest sovereign wealth fund, said in its 2019 annual review it saw China and India as key drivers of global economic growth, and climate change and data centres as investment opportunities.
ADIA, which manages capital on behalf of the oil rich Abu Dhabi government, does not disclose the value of its assets but financial advisory boutique Global SWF, which specialises in sovereign funds, has put them at $710 billion this year.
In 2019, ADIA achieved 20-year and 30-year annualised rates of return of 4.8% and 6.6% respectively compared to 5.4% and 6.5% in 2018, it said in its report, published on Tuesday.
“At ADIA, we view climate change as an opportunity. We already routinely incorporate climate change considerations into all of our investment proposals, and have been steadily expanding our exposure to renewable energy,” Managing Director Hamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan said in the report.
“On a geographic basis, we continue to see China and India as key drivers of global growth in the years to come,” he said, adding that African countries are among those offering the greatest potential for long-term investors.
ADIA employed 1,700 people at the end of 2019. Its portfolio was split between active and passive management with a 55%-45% ratio. It managed 45% of its investment portfolio internally and 55% through external managers, it said.
ADIA said it planned to continue to focus on real estate in emerging markets like China, India and Latin America, where a growing consumer class could provide attractive investment opportunities. It said its external equities department had identified a manager to chase opportunities in Mexico.
In the first few months of 2020, and against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, ADIA’s private equity department provided expansion capital to new and existing portfolio companies in financial services and invested in the software and industrial services sectors. Other areas of focus included healthcare and technology, it said.
ADIA’s renewable energy portfolio accounted for more than 15 gigawatts of power generation capacity as of the end of last year, the report said.
(Reporting by Davide Barbuscia and Saeed Azhar; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
