Abu Dhabi, UAE Global investment management giant BlackRock now has a commercial license to do business in Abu Dhabi, the latest milestone in its expansion in the Middle East. The approval, which took place on November 18, comes after the company received regulatory approval to set up a headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, just a few days ago.
The financial free zone in the UAE capital will soon see the firm set up operations, the firm said. According to Bloomberg, the office will target sovereign wealth funds, wealth managers, and regional investment vehicles.
BlackRock Partners with Abu Dhabi on Infrastructure
That expansion further supports BlackRock’s ambition to bolster its regional reach. In fact, last month the company raised as much as $5 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, putting life into a plan to invest in regional projects and create a Riyadh-based team.
Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan is also teaming up with BlackRock in a $100 million infrastructure fund that will spend enabling data warehouses and energy systems.
“As a capital market hub with strong government proactive policies towards sustainability as well as great transformation into a global finance hub, Abu Dhabi presents itself as a great opportunity to keep investing,” BlackRock’s Head of the Middle East, Charles Hatami, stated.
Hatami said Abu Dhabi has quickly become a global financial center. The firm, he said, would focus on private markets and AI infrastructure in Abu Dhabi.
As business hubs both in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are growing in influence, the dual focus was a logical strategy, said Larry Fink, BlackRock’s CEO. Fink said that Abu Dhabi and Riyadh are bidding to become the Middle Eastern hub of the world of finance.
Such is part of a broader competition between Dubai and Riyadh to lure global investment and the UAE capital’s ambitions. Taking together, these cities steward over $1 trillion in sovereign wealth funds that pool capital from many of the world’s largest pools of capital.
The moves by BlackRock are representative of its desire to work with regional growth and infrastructure priorities while taking advantage of opportunities in one of the most exciting investment arenas on the planet.
BlackRock’s entry to Abu Dhabi further bolsters its standing as a financial powerhouse as the market begins to gain momentum in becoming a major global draw.
