Abu Dhabi's ADIA teams up with private investment firm on real estate secondaries push

A unit of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has partnered with international private investment firm Ardian to launch a real estate secondaries platform targeting opportunities created by a reset in valuations and rising demand for liquidity. Ardian said transaction volumes in real estate secondaries reached a record US$20 billion in 2025, and highlighted the timing as a strategic entry point. ADIA manages more than US$1 trillion in assets.

"We have been closely studying the market for some time, and believe now is a compelling moment to enter the market and drive significant value for our investors," said Vladimir Colas, executive vice-president and co-head of secondaries at Ardian.

Context and deal specifics

The new platform will buy stakes in existing property funds or portfolios from investors seeking liquidity — the activity commonly referred to as real estate secondaries. Ardian, founded in 1996, manages or advises about US$200 billion globally and operates roughly 20 offices worldwide. The firm has been a major player in the secondaries market, having raised a record US$30 billion for a secondaries fund in 2025.

Ardian has expanded its Gulf footprint in recent years: it opened an office in Abu Dhabi in 2023 and maintains partnerships with regional players such as Mubadala Investment on private asset investments. ADIA’s decision to back the new platform comes as the fund recalibrates its private equity strategy to capture growth in secondaries and as other Abu Dhabi institutions move on sizeable private-asset plans. The Abu Dhabi Investment Council — an independently run unit of Mubadala — has signalled ambitions to deploy as much as US$10 billion over the next three years.

• Real estate secondaries transaction volume: US$20 billion in 2025
• Ardian global assets managed/advised: ~US$200 billion
• Ardian secondaries fund raised in 2025: US$30 billion
• ADIA assets under management: more than US$1 trillion

Mohamed Al Qubaisi, executive director of the real estate department at ADIA, said the new platform reflects confidence in both the growth of the real estate secondaries market and the partnership between the two groups. The announcement underscores how Gulf sovereign investors continue to pursue global dealmaking despite heightened geopolitical tensions following the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Outlook

Industry observers say the combination of valuation resets and heightened liquidity needs makes secondaries an attractive avenue for large, long-term capital providers such as ADIA and Ardian. With Ardian’s scale in secondaries and ADIA’s capital base, the platform could accelerate transactions in a market that recorded US$20 billion a year ago and has expanded rapidly from niche origins.

The move also sits alongside other significant Abu Dhabi transactions: on Monday, Judan — a newly established US$237 billion financial services holding company in Abu Dhabi — agreed to buy a majority stake in Alpha Wave Global, which itself holds investments in technology groups including SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI. Together, these developments signal continued momentum among Middle Eastern investors to deploy capital into private markets despite geopolitical headwinds.