View / Why Abu Dhabi’s next play is managing other people’s money

As if Abu Dhabi didn’t have enough state-linked investment firms, it just launched another one. International Holding Co., the largest listed firm in the UAE and part of a web of companies controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAE’s national security adviser and the deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi, said it is creating Judan Financial.

The new firm — which will be chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon — will consolidate financial services assets from across his holdings, including alternative asset manager Lunate, reinsurance startup RIQ, and digital lender Wio Bank. Judan is expected to have a valuation of $27 billion and $237 billion in assets under management.

Yet Judan is not just another restructuring in Abu Dhabi.

For one, it shows that Sheikh Tahnoon’s grip on Abu Dhabi’s financial ecosystem remains firm. The emergence of L’IMAD Holding, controlled by Crown Prince Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed, hinted that a new center of sovereign investing was rising, but it’s clear that any potential redistribution of influence will be gradual, not abrupt.

Second, Judan’s intention to raise capital from third parties marks an ongoing evolution: Abu Dhabi’s moneymen are increasingly confident in using their decades-long track record of managing Abu Dhabi’s oil wealth as a pitch to run other people’s money.

This shift reflects the city’s broader transformation. Abu Dhabi’s financial center just isn’t seen as a place to open an office to try and tap sovereign wealth, but a place to meet global investors. Family offices from around the world are there, as are the biggest global investment institutions.

When Abu Dhabi branded itself the “capital of capital” a few years ago, it was mostly a reference to the nearly $2 trillion pool of sovereign-linked wealth controlled by the emirate — a reminder that anyone raising serious money would need to make a trip. Increasingly, Abu Dhabi is looking to bring in capital, and not just send it out.