Dubai: The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) last year managed about 55 per cent of its assets through external fund managers, down from 60 per cent in 2016 and 75 per cent in 2013, the firm’s 2017 annual review has revealed.
Adia is boosting in-house teams in areas such as alternative investments and equities. It set up a new strategy and planning department, while its internal equities department made new appointments in Europe and Japan. The private equity department hired executives to head the Asia-Pacific region and industrials.
According to the review, on the investment front, Adia continued to take advantage of cyclically high prices in some areas to selectively sell assets, while seeking out opportunities in overlooked fields with greater potential.
“As in previous years, emerging markets remained a key focus, particularly India and China, as we sought to build further on our knowledge and deepen our relationships in these markets. In India, Adia was proud to work closely with and become the first investor in the Indian government-backed National Investment & Infrastructure Fund [NIIF],” Shaikh Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, managing director of Adia, said in the annual review.
In keeping with Adia’s focus on innovations with long-term potential, the Internal Equities Department conducted a study and peer review process into how Big Data, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are changing the investment landscape.
“The findings of this analysis resulted in the adoption of several initiatives relating to data capture and storage, stock analysis and factor exposures, which have made us more efficient and improved our ability to identify opportunities,” the annual review.
In investment support, the operations department completed a valuable benchmarking exercise involving 35 of its global peers. The exercise identified several opportunities to improve organisational efficiency and its ability to improve performance within its securities lending activities.
The Internal Equities Department made new appointments to its Europe and Japan teams and to the department’s support functions, while the Private Equities department appointed a new Asia-Pacific head and head of Industrials as part of its organisational redesign.
On the global investment outlook, the review said conditions in the global economy appeared relatively robust in early 2018.
Growth was well balanced across regions and was benefiting workers in many economies, while the most common causes of recessions — above targeted inflation and monetary restraint — remained absent.
Central banks and other policymakers have begun to rein in the expansionary policies of the past several years but have done so to date in a cautious and measured way.
With the equity markets suffering bouts of volatility in early 2018 in the context or relative low volatility in 2017, some normalisation is expected in the year ahead.
