Abu Dhabi: An Abu Dhabi firm backed by Mubadala Investment is building out its investment team with key hires from the country’s sovereign wealth funds.
Group 42 tapped Christoph Koster, an ex-official at Abu Dhabi Investment Office, as head of investment strategy and investor relations. Jon Nieman, who was senior portfolio manager for the emerging opportunities mandate at the nation’s largest wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, will be head of investments.
A spokesperson for the firm confirmed the hires. The moves underscore the expansion of G42, an AI and cloud computing company, with operations spanning from energy to healthcare and autonomous vehicles.
Koster and Nieman are among those reporting into Chief Investment Officer Tariq bin Hendi, who’s looking to hire more money managers from other Abu Dhabi-based investment firms.
The company also hired former McKinsey & Co. partner Raffaele Breschi as its Group Chief Growth Officer, where he’ll focus on expanding the firm’s artificial intelligence and technology portfolio.
Innovative deals
Last year, G42 formed a joint venture with Beijing-based Sinopharm CNBG, marking the first overseas manufacturing of the Chinese vaccine. It also became the first Emirati firm to open an Israel office after the nations normalized ties through the Abraham Accords and rolled out the Middle East’s earliest driverless car trials. Meantime, the firm’s Artemis supercomputer is behind a national genome sequencing program.
Koster, who followed bin Hendi to G42 from ADIO, previously was head of strategy for private banking at Dubai-based Emirates NBD Bank. Nieman has held investment roles at State Street Corp. and Saudi Aramco, specializing in alternative assets like royalties, sports deals and aircraft leasing.
