Abu Dhabi dealmaker sharpens sovereign reach

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai

Abu Dhabi’s Jassem Mohamed Bu Ataba Al Zaabi has moved from a largely behind-the-scenes fiscal role into the centre of global dealmaking, taking charge of L’IMAD Holding as the emirate reshapes its sovereign investment network and pushes deeper into infrastructure, technology, finance and strategic industries.
Al Zaabi, long associated with the emirate’s Department of Finance and its investment oversight bodies, was named managing director and chief executive of L’IMAD in January, when Abu Dhabi formed the board of the new sovereign investment platform under the chairmanship of Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Within weeks, the fund absorbed the assets and investments of ADQ, turning L’IMAD into one of Abu Dhabi’s principal state investment vehicles alongside the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Mubadala.

The consolidation placed a vast portfolio under L’IMAD’s umbrella, including holdings and platforms linked to energy, ports, aviation, healthcare, banking, real estate, rail, food and industrial assets. Among the names brought within the group’s orbit are TAQA, Modon Properties, Etihad Airways, PureHealth, Etihad Rail, Wio Bank, Abu Dhabi Ports, McLaren and Louis Dreyfus. The structure gives Al Zaabi operational reach across domestic economic pillars and global assets at a time when Gulf capital is playing a larger role in cross-border transactions.

L’IMAD’s mandate is broader than passive wealth management. It is designed to develop national champions, invest directly and through funds, and build partnerships in priority sectors inside and outside the UAE. Its latest push came through a partnership with BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners, Temasek and ADNOC targeting $30 billion of infrastructure investment across the Gulf and Central Asia, with scope for selected projects in the wider Middle East and North Africa. The focus spans energy, transport and logistics, sectors where population growth, supply-chain shifts and energy transition spending are creating large capital needs.

Al Zaabi’s prominence reflects Abu Dhabi’s preference for trusted technocrats who can move between public finance, regulation, sovereign investment and corporate governance. He chairs the Department of Finance, serves as secretary-general of the Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs, and holds senior positions across entities including the UAE Central Bank, ADQ, ADIA, ADNOC, First Abu Dhabi Bank, MGX, e&, Modon Holding and the Abu Dhabi Pension Fund. That concentration of roles gives him direct exposure to policy, capital allocation and corporate strategy across the emirate’s economic system.

His profile has risen as Abu Dhabi seeks to balance stability at home with a more assertive role abroad. The emirate’s sovereign investment ecosystem has expanded from traditional reserve management into an active network of platforms pursuing private equity, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, logistics, energy transition and asset management deals. That shift has drawn global financial institutions to Abu Dhabi Global Market and strengthened the emirate’s position as a base for hedge funds, private capital firms and family offices.

Lunate’s expansion illustrates the same trend. The Abu Dhabi-based alternative investment manager, linked to the wider investment network around Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has built partnerships with major global managers and moved into hedge funds through a minority stake in Brevan Howard, accompanied by a $2 billion commitment to a new Abu Dhabi-based investment platform. Such transactions show how Abu Dhabi is using strategic stakes and co-investment structures to bring financial expertise into the emirate while deploying capital overseas.

The rise of L’IMAD also signals a generational adjustment in Abu Dhabi’s investment architecture. Sheikh Khaled’s chairmanship places the crown prince at the head of a major sovereign platform, while Al Zaabi’s executive role provides continuity through a figure already embedded in the emirate’s fiscal and institutional framework. The arrangement gives the new fund political weight, balance-sheet depth and administrative experience.