Hillhouse Investment Management officially announced on April 2 the establishment of a new office within the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). The firm has secured a Category 3C license from the local Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), marking a significant step in its expansion strategy across the Gulf region.
Market speculation in 2024 had already indicated Hillhouse's plans to set up an office in the Abu Dhabi International Financial Centre. With this formal announcement, Hillhouse becomes one of the first global asset management firms to establish a presence in Abu Dhabi's financial core, despite ongoing regional conflicts.
The decision to proceed with the setup, even amidst geopolitical uncertainties, likely reflects Abu Dhabi's core appeal as a Middle Eastern financial hub and the robust growth of its local financial ecosystem. As the capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi holds 90% of the country's oil reserves and is leveraging its sovereign wealth funds to diversify its economy away from reliance on the oil and gas sector. Its key financial platform, ADGM, has demonstrated strong performance. Official ADGM data shows that assets under management grew 36% year-on-year in 2025, with 3,769 new licenses issued during the year. The total number of active licenses increased by 30% to 12,671, and the number of professionals working there grew by 51% to 44,339. By the number of active licenses, ADGM is now the largest international financial centre in the Middle East and Africa.
Hillhouse's move is not an isolated case. Other globally renowned institutions have recently announced their entry into Abu Dhabi. For instance, investment firm Muzinich & Co. established an office in ADGM on March 30. Statistics also indicate that over the past two years, international institutions including the law firm Skadden, Golub Capital, Morgan Stanley, and General Atlantic have either set up or plan to set up operational bases in Abu Dhabi. The tax-free business environment, convenient market access, and proximity to the world's largest pools of sovereign capital are key factors driving this sustained interest.
The new office represents a deepening of Hillhouse's existing operational foundation in the UAE, rather than an initial entry. Prior to this establishment, Hillhouse had already built a multi-dimensional business presence in the UAE through several of its platforms.
A key vehicle for this presence is Ascentium, a global business services platform backed by Hillhouse. Founded in September 2024 and headquartered in Singapore, Ascentium focuses on areas including secretarial services, finance, payroll management, HR administration, family office services, fund management, GRC (governance, risk, and compliance), and cross-border and foreign direct investment. In February 2026, Ascentium acquired Clara, the largest licensed corporate services provider in ADGM. Reports indicate that Ascentium now employs 2,600 professionals across 46 cities and 23 markets, serving over 63,000 client entities. Clara provides full-cycle services—such as company registration, governance, and compliance—to 2,000 entities within ADGM and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), covering a diverse range of clients from startups to investment firms and government-related entities. These moves provided Hillhouse with stable local transaction channels and licensed service capabilities even before the formal expansion of its new office.
Concurrently, Hillhouse's physical assets investment subsidiary, Rava Partners, has also made investments in the UAE's educational real estate sector, including in institutions like Hartland International School and North London Collegiate School.
In an interview last March, Hillhouse's Co-Chief Operating Officer Adam Hornung stated that the firm plans to deploy between $1 billion and $2 billion annually in Japan. He noted that its fifth series of funds has approximately $6 billion in investable capital, and the company plans to double its local headcount.
As Hillhouse continues to expand its fundraising footprint across Asia and the Gulf region, Abu Dhabi provides another strategic operational foothold. According to Reuters, Abu Dhabi's吸引力 remains its convenient market access, low-tax regime, and proximity to vast sovereign capital pools. Even amid periods of significant disruption to regional shipping and travel, institutions continue to establish a presence, reinforcing this trend.
As a leading Chinese asset manager, Hillhouse's entry into Abu Dhabi is not only a major step in its own global expansion but also adds another name to Abu Dhabi's growing roster of financial institutions. This continues the pattern of legal, credit, and private capital platforms establishing operations there. ADGM's 2025 licensing and employment data further validates the reasons why numerous institutions are choosing to conduct licensed operations, fundraising activities, and engage more closely with Middle Eastern investors from this hub.