The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Eurasian Economic Union summit in Minsk, Belarus, on June 27, 2025. (Credit: Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Reuters)
The change was meant to be discreet. On Friday, Jan. 30, Abu Dhabi announced that its ADQ fund, weighing in at over $260 billion, would come under the control of L’IMAD.
Recently established, this "sovereign investment platform of the Abu Dhabi government, tasked with supporting sustainable economic growth, diversifying sources of income, and achieving optimal investment returns for the emirate" is chaired by the eldest son of the Emirati president, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi.
This generational transfer is unprecedented in the emirate, as the ADQ fund had previously been managed by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan , brother of Mohamed bin Zayed (MBZ).
The decision further cements the position of Abu Dhabi's crown prince, expected to succeed his father, as the emirate holds political power within the federation over its smaller sibling, Dubai.
With the integration of the ADQ fund into L’IMAD, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed now controls a fund valued at $300 billion, including such Emirati flagships as Etihad Airways, port infrastructure under AD Ports Group, railways under Etihad Rail, and strategic firms like TAQA, specialized in energy and water, as well as ENEC, focused on nuclear energy.
According to the Financial Times, since its recent creation, L’IMAD has already acquired the local automotive firm CYVN, which owns McLaren and 18 percent of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Nio, as well as a significant property portfolio through a majority stake in Modon Holding.
While the new fund came to wider attention last December by taking part in a $108 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros in place of Netflix, it was only in mid-January that the Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs of Abu Dhabi appointed its board of directors.
At the head of L’IMAD, MBZ’s eldest son, 44, is following in his father’s footsteps — the Mubadala sovereign fund was created for MBZ in 2002 to consolidate his power under his own father’s reign.
According to Gulf Business, the new fund aims to create national champions in strategic sectors such as energy and infrastructure, aviation and logistics, healthcare and food, and real estate and finance.
This vision fits into the context of the regional competition for economic diversification, especially highlighted as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia spar with each other through the media.
Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed was appointed crown prince in 2023, after his father became president of the emirate federation; some observers had expected his uncle Tahnoun to be named first in the line of succession instead.
While the rise of the emirate's crown prince does not yet appear to be causing tensions within the royal family, it does effectively sideline the so-called "spy sheikh," who serves as national security adviser to his brother.
Still, Tahnoun bin Zayed continues to control the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the emirate’s first sovereign wealth fund, with over one trillion dollars in assets, and he oversees the country’s artificial intelligence strategy, which is intended to be at the heart of the UAE’s strategic development.
MBZ nevertheless seems to be preparing his eldest son to succeed him, having placed him in recent years on the boards of ADNOC, Abu Dhabi's oil company, ADIA, and also at the head of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.
This article was translated from L'Orient-Le Jour.
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