The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) authorised several renowned hedge funds in the last three months.
This includes Asia Research Capital Management, Brevan Howard, Carrhae Capital, Cresen Capital, Lighthouse Partners, Merlyn Advisors, Noventa Capital Management and Qube Research Technologies.
Blue Owl Capital and Walleye Capital have also recently completed their registrations.
The migration of hedge funds to DIFC reflects the emirate’s ability to attract top talent and provide access to large concentrations of public and private capital. The emirate possesses the highest concentration of wealth of any Middle Eastern city, with over 68,400 individuals having more than $1 million of investable wealth, which is triple the number of any other city in the region.
Furthermore, Middle Eastern state-owned investors manage $4.7 trillion of capital, and Dubai is considered a neutral territory for managing investments.
Rapid sector growth is attracting diverse business models, large, medium and smaller managers, and technology platforms and is also helping to deepen local prime brokerage and trading capabilities.
“DIFC is delighted to welcome our new hedge fund clients to the Centre, thereby continuing our remarkable growth as a rising global hub for hedge funds and certainly the region’s largest hedge fund market,” said Salmaan Jaffery, Chief Business Development Officer, DIFC Authority. “Our new clients will manage and grow their business by attracting top global talent and tapping into deep pools of public and private capital accessible in and from Dubai.”
Earlier this year, DIFC confirmed it had attracted hedge funds, including Hudson Bay Capital, King Street, Balyasny Asset Management and Verition Fund Management LLC. In 2022, DIFC saw a 54% increase in the total number of hedge funds within the Centre. Approximately two-thirds of DIFC-based hedge funds originate from the US and UK, including two of the world’s ten largest hedge funds.
DIFC was also the first financial centre in the UAE to sign an agreement with AIMA (Alternate Investment Management Association), the alternative investment industry’s pre-eminent voice globally, representing over 2,100 corporate members with over $2.5 trillion hedge fund and/or private credit assets.
