Abu Dhabi thinks big to attract super-wealthy

• Abu Dhabi targets family offices
• 30 initiatives planned
• ADGM growing strongly

From exclusive schools and members’ clubs to private banking and wealth management institutions, Abu Dhabi is ramping up efforts to attract family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals to the emirate.

US private equity investor Leon Black, who has a net worth of about $14 billion, in September opened a branch of his family office in Abu Dhabi.

The co-founder of New York investment giant Apollo Global Management joined the likes of Egyptian tycoon Nassef Sawiris, Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, India’s Adani family and hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio, who have set up offices in the UAE, but the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) is hoping they will not be the last.

“One of the key projects we are running currently [is] attracting family offices and ultra-high-net-worths,” Hareb Mubarak Al Mheiri, executive director of ADIO’s investor growth sector, said this week at the Abu Dhabi Finance Week conference.

The number of family offices around the world has risen by almost a third to just over 8,000 in the past five years, controlling total wealth of about $5.5 trillion. Of these, 300 are in the Middle East, and the number is expected to rise to 350 by 2030, Deloitte research indicates.  

“In ADIO, we are in charge of enhancing the investor experience,” Al Mheiri said. He is working on around 30 initiatives under its family office programme to make Abu Dhabi more attractive to wealthy investors.

“We are talking to seven brands for private clubs [and] six brands for boarding schools. Also, we are talking to the local banks to make sure their private banking [is] aligned with the expectation of family offices who are going to expand their business here.”

The Middle East and Africa (Mea) region has recorded the greatest influx of billionaires outside of the US, according to a study from Swiss private wealth bank UBS. It had 25 percent growth in the mega-rich in 2024, marginally behind the US at 26.9 percent.

Benjamin Cavalli, head of global wealth at UBS, told Abu Dhabi Finance Week that 80 percent of the billionaires coming to the Mea region are self made.

“This is quite staggering,” he said.

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As a result of the influx of wealthy residents, Abu Dhabi Global Market, the emirate’s financial free zone, has reported strong growth.

Total assets under management in the third quarter of 2024 rose 215 percent year on year and the number of operational entities in the free zone rose 31 percent annually to 2,251.

Another component of the ADIO initiatives is the establishment of wealth institutes, which offer services to educate wealthy individuals and their families on managing generational wealth, philanthropy and governance structures.

“We are talking to the top three wealth institutes globally – not just to bring the brand, but the entire system to Abu Dhabi,” Al Mheiri said.