Private Equity News & Analysis

ADIA taps infra exec as head of PE Americas

The $650bn sovereign wealth fund had raised its allocation to PE up to 10%, per its latest annual report.

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Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the world’s sixth biggest investor in private equity according to the GI 100, has appointed a head of Americas for private equity, following an overhaul of its internal processes in recent years.

Andrew Claerhout, former partner and co-head of infrastructure at Searchlight Capital Partners, started in the role in July, according to an email seen by Private Equity International.

He joins Sherwood Dodge and Jerome Mourgue D’Algue, co-heads of global private equities, and Kabir Mathur, head of Asia Pacific private equities, in the PE department.

The sovereign wealth fund – which manages an estimated $650 billion, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute – has overhauled its internal structure and processes in the last year, following a review of its operations which it kickstarted in 2019, Bloomberg reported this week.

The changes include a reduction in headcount of almost 10 percent of the fund’s workforce and a shift to data-driven investing, the report noted. It also plans to bolster its private equity investment team to up to 120 in the next three years.

It raised its allocation band for private equity from between 2 percent and 8 percent in 2019, to between 5 percent and 10 percent in 2020, according to its latest annual report, published last September.

ADIA completed 24 direct investments – excluding early-stage venture capital transactions – in 2020, up from 18 the previous year. Direct and co-investments represented 55 percent of its overall deployment for the year, compared with 45 percent in 2019.

In the US, the investor has backed funds managed by Thomas H Lee Partners, The Carlyle Group and Apollo Global Management, PEI data shows.

ADIA targets financial services, healthcare, industrials, technology and consumer sectors, according to PEI data.

The article has been updated to reflect that Jerome Mourgue D’Algue is co-head of global private equities and Kabir Mathur is head of Asia Pacific private equities.

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