Key Takeaways
- • AC Limited, the family office of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi, is believed to manage assets worth tens of billions of dollars, according to Bloomberg reporting based on regulatory filings and interviews with people familiar with the matter.
- • Since the start of last year, AC Limited has backed Ardian's record $30 billion secondaries fund, helped finance the management buyout of Hayfin, and invested in the nearly $700 million listing of the Uzbek national investment fund.
- • The family office holds positions in Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, McLaren, Blackstone and Carlyle, and has a relatively high allocation to private markets across leveraged buyouts, secondaries, private credit and real estate debt.
- • A single investment arm disclosed a $1.8 billion US stock portfolio in one recent quarter, with bets on Nvidia and TSMC among its top performers over the past year.
- • Executives are reportedly considering increasing investment in the defense industry, a potential signal of shifting priorities as Abu Dhabi continues to deploy capital globally.
Summary
AC Limited, the family office of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, operates from a Dubai corporate tower with a low public profile, according to Bloomberg. Although none of the people Bloomberg interviewed could pinpoint how many billions the fund manages, all agreed it is among the most influential family offices globally. Sheikh Mohamed heads the Al Nahyan clan, whose estimated fortune exceeds $335 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The firm's investments span private capital, credit, real estate, technology, healthcare, automotive and industrial sectors. Its private capital relationships include Apollo, Ardian, Brookfield, Carlyle, Fortress, Mubadala Capital, New Mountain Capital and Silver Lake. In credit and real estate, it has put money into Blackstone's $8 billion Real Estate Debt Strategies fund, vehicles linked to M7 Real Estate, and an indirect stake in Hayfin following a management buyout completed last year. It has also backed a $2 billion Chinese buyout fund run by Citic's private equity arm, which participated in the restructuring of state-owned excavator maker XCMG, and teamed with New Mountain Capital on the 2017 purchase of VWR for $6.4 billion including debt.
Bloomberg reports that AC Limited has also taken on higher-risk exposure. It provided debt in 2023 to fund luxury property development linked to Rene Benko's Signa Group, which collapsed later that year. The firm was an early investor in Nio ahead of its IPO, invested in Endeavor Group before its listing, and was a major investor in new stock listings and several SPAC mergers during the 2021 boom. Bloomberg also reports that staff received a roughly 50% discount on McLaren sports cars through the stake.
The team is led by executives with backgrounds at Mubadala, including CEO Ossama Khoreibi and Dae Ha. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Mubadala's CEO, sits on the board, and Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan helps with oversight. Olivier Courtois oversees private investments and Rishi Renjen leads public-markets investing. Paul Westall of Agreus described the firm as an institutional-caliber family office. Bloomberg notes that the family office has been seen as a badge of trust within Abu Dhabi's investment circles, and that executives are considering greater defense-sector investment. The firm declined or did not respond to comment requests.
The firm's investments span private capital, credit, real estate, technology, healthcare, automotive and industrial sectors. Its private capital relationships include Apollo, Ardian, Brookfield, Carlyle, Fortress, Mubadala Capital, New Mountain Capital and Silver Lake. In credit and real estate, it has put money into Blackstone's $8 billion Real Estate Debt Strategies fund, vehicles linked to M7 Real Estate, and an indirect stake in Hayfin following a management buyout completed last year. It has also backed a $2 billion Chinese buyout fund run by Citic's private equity arm, which participated in the restructuring of state-owned excavator maker XCMG, and teamed with New Mountain Capital on the 2017 purchase of VWR for $6.4 billion including debt.
Bloomberg reports that AC Limited has also taken on higher-risk exposure. It provided debt in 2023 to fund luxury property development linked to Rene Benko's Signa Group, which collapsed later that year. The firm was an early investor in Nio ahead of its IPO, invested in Endeavor Group before its listing, and was a major investor in new stock listings and several SPAC mergers during the 2021 boom. Bloomberg also reports that staff received a roughly 50% discount on McLaren sports cars through the stake.
The team is led by executives with backgrounds at Mubadala, including CEO Ossama Khoreibi and Dae Ha. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Mubadala's CEO, sits on the board, and Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan helps with oversight. Olivier Courtois oversees private investments and Rishi Renjen leads public-markets investing. Paul Westall of Agreus described the firm as an institutional-caliber family office. Bloomberg notes that the family office has been seen as a badge of trust within Abu Dhabi's investment circles, and that executives are considering greater defense-sector investment. The firm declined or did not respond to comment requests.
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