Awqaf Abu Dhabi, or the Endowment and Minors’ Fund Authority, is open to investing in data centres as part of its push into defensive sectors to help shield its assets from economic shocks, its director general has said.
The strategy aims to provide stability for the two-year-old organisation “until we can create a proper asset allocation into different sectors”, Fahad Al Qassim told The National on the sidelines of the Annual Investment Meeting Congress in Abu Dhabi.
A portion of Awqaf Abu Dhabi's capital “will have to go into” new technologies, such as those driven by artificial intelligence, Mr Al Qassim said in an interview.
Defensive sectors are defined as those that provide dividends and earnings that are stable and consistent, regardless of the economic situation. They generally include utilities, consumer staples such as food and personal care, and health care.
“Given that data centres will become a utility, it might be part of the energy and utilities programme that we will be looking into ... [as] data centre growth is huge across the world and it's becoming more of a utility that needs to be used by AI and blockchain,” he said in an interview.
Data centres would provide Awqaf Abu Dhabi with an avenue into energy and utilities, which “we need to look into because they give very stable returns”, he added.
“Companies, or I would say the backbone of AI, like data centres and service centres [are] now being grown into different parts of the world.”
Awqaf Abu Dhabi will also be training its sights on health care, banking, finance, services, education and food security, which are “the main themes for us to start with, and then slowly we [will] venture into new economy sectors”, Mr Al Qassim said.
The recent sweeping tariffs imposed by the US are also a factor in playing safe, as the situation has cast a heavy cloud of uncertainty over economies everywhere, he said.
“You cannot predict everything that happens in the future, but then there are some asset classes which have always proven as defensive sectors,” he added.
“So we invest in defensive sectors, we invest in structured products [that are] stable to some extent and give us stable returns over the coming few years.”
Health care is a major focus for Awqaf Abu Dhabi. In June last year, it launched a Dh1 billion ($272.3 million) healthcare endowment alongside Abu Dhabi's Department of Health. The deliverables of that will be revealed in May, Mr Al Qassim said.
The announcement will include the projects Awqaf Abu Dhabi has been able to fund and its beneficiaries, as well as plans for the distribution of profits, he said. Up to two new endowment projects are also being considered in 2025, he added.
“That's the main thing that we'll be working on this year. I also envisage that before the year-end, we will come with another one or two ideas for the endowments as well,” he said, without providing further details.
Awqaf Abu Dhabi will also leverage technologies such as AI to help manage its assets, including endowment files and the wealth of minors, Mr Al Qassim said.
“For us to manage this kind of wealth, we need to digitise all our processes. With AI and blockchain technologies for validation and verification purposes, this is the way to go for us,” he added, noting that this will also help manage its relationship with individuals when it comes to reporting and investments.
Awqaf Abu Dhabi was established in 2023 and operates under the emirate's Executive Council. It is mandated to regulate, preserve and develop endowed assets, and ensure the distribution of profits “to create sustainable value”, according to its website. Its current services include financial education, asset management and consultation.
PROFILE OF CURE.FIT
Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
Size: 500 employees
Investment: $250 million
Investors: Accel, Oaktree Capital (US); Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal, Pratithi Investment Trust, Ratan Tata (India); and Unilever Ventures (Unilever’s global venture capital arm)
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
JAPAN SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Sho Sasaki, Hiroki Sakai, Sei Muroya, Genta Miura, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Midfielders: Toshihiro Aoyama, Genki Haraguchi, Gaku Shibasaki, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Shoya Nakajima, Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita, Ritsu Doan
Forwards: Yuya Osako, Takuma Asano, Koya Kitagawa
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
Mazen Abukhater, principal and actuary at global consultancy Mercer, Middle East, says the company’s Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index - which benchmarks 34 pension schemes across the globe to assess their adequacy, sustainability and integrity - included Saudi Arabia for the first time this year to offer a glimpse into the region.
The index highlighted fundamental issues for all 34 countries, such as a rapid ageing population and a low growth / low interest environment putting pressure on expected returns. It also highlighted the increasing popularity around the world of defined contribution schemes.
“Average life expectancy has been increasing by about three years every 10 years. Someone born in 1947 is expected to live until 85 whereas someone born in 2007 is expected to live to 103,” Mr Abukhater told the Mena Pensions Conference.
“Are our systems equipped to handle these kind of life expectancies in the future? If so many people retire at 60, they are going to be in retirement for 43 years – so we need to adapt our retirement age to our changing life expectancy.”
Saudi Arabia came in the middle of Mercer’s ranking with a score of 58.9. The report said the country's index could be raised by improving the minimum level of support for the poorest aged individuals and increasing the labour force participation rate at older ages as life expectancies rise.
Mr Abukhater said the challenges of an ageing population, increased life expectancy and some individuals relying solely on their government for financial support in their retirement years will put the system under strain.
“To relieve that pressure, governments need to consider whether it is time to switch to a defined contribution scheme so that individuals can supplement their own future with the help of government support,” he said.
The Kites
Romain Gary
Penguin Modern Classics
