L'IMAD Holding
Abu Dhabi's fourth sovereign wealth fund, chaired by Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed. Absorbed ADQ's $263 billion in assets in January 2026 to reach approximately $300 billion AUM, spanning 25 investment platforms and 250+ subsidiaries.
L'IMAD Holding is the sovereign investment platform of the Abu Dhabi government established in 2025 and formally consolidated as the emirate's fourth sovereign wealth fund in January 2026. Chaired by Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan — Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council — L'IMAD absorbed the entirety of ADQ's approximately $263 billion asset base in a Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs resolution issued on 30 January 2026. At inception it manages an estimated $300 billion across more than 25 investment companies and 250 subsidiaries, spanning energy, utilities, urban development, ports and logistics, aviation, industrial, real estate, financial services, advanced industries, technology, urban mobility, and smart cities.
L'IMAD sits alongside the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Mubadala, and the AI-infrastructure vehicle MGX as the fourth pillar of Abu Dhabi's sovereign-capital architecture, with combined system AUM approaching $2 trillion.
At a glance
- Full name: L'IMAD Holding Co.
- Established: 2025 (first public transaction October 2025); board and mandate formalized January 2026
- Chairman: Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi
- Managing Director & Group CEO: Jassem Bu Ataba Al Zaabi
- AUM (inception): approximately $300 billion (Global SWF estimate)
- Portfolio: 25+ investment companies and platforms; 250+ subsidiaries
- Sectors: energy and utilities, urban development, ports and logistics, aviation, industrial, real estate, financial services, advanced industries, technology, urban mobility, smart cities
- Predecessor absorbed: ADQ (January 2026)
- Headquarters: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Establishment
L'IMAD emerged in October 2025 in its first public transaction — the acquisition of a 42.54 percent stake in Abu Dhabi real estate developer Modon Holding from International Holding Company. IHC characterized the divestment as a move to avoid "overconcentration" of its portfolio in a single sector. The transaction was L'IMAD's public arrival: the vehicle existed but had not previously disclosed its scope or leadership.
On 13–14 January 2026, the Abu Dhabi Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs — the body responsible for setting the emirate's public policy on financial, investment, economic, petroleum, and natural-resource matters — announced L'IMAD's board and confirmed its mandate. On 30 January 2026, the same council issued the resolution consolidating ADQ's assets under L'IMAD, framed as the creation of "a sovereign investment powerhouse with a diversified asset base."
Leadership
Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan — son of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi — chairs the fund. His appointment marks a generational transition in Abu Dhabi's sovereign-capital leadership. Where ADQ was chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed (the current president's brother), L'IMAD is chaired by the current president's son. On 4 July 2026, Sheikh Khaled formally approved L'IMAD's investment and operational framework, signalling the completion of the fund's institutional build-out.
Jassem Bu Ataba Al Zaabi serves as Managing Director and Group CEO. His concurrent roles include Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Finance, Vice Chairman of the UAE Central Bank, and Chairman of the board of the telecommunications group e&. Bloomberg has described Al Zaabi as the official who has become central to the emirate's efforts to manage its oil wealth in the face of rising geopolitical risks — the coordinating figure across sovereign fund leadership and monetary-authority governance.
The L'IMAD board additionally includes Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and CEO of Mubadala — creating explicit governance overlap between L'IMAD and Mubadala at the board level — together with Ahmed Al Mazrouei, Mohamed Al Shorafa, Saif Ghobash, Waleed Al Muhairi, and Kamal Almaazmi. The overlap with Mubadala's leadership signals that the four-pillar architecture is operationally coordinated rather than independently competitive.
Mandate and structure
L'IMAD is positioned as an "operationally active shareholder" — a governance model inherited directly from ADQ. Rather than functioning as a passive institutional investor, the fund retains board-level and management influence across its portfolio companies, driving strategy, executive appointments, and cross-portfolio synergies. The fund's stated mandate is to support Abu Dhabi's economic foundations by scaling critical industries, nurturing national champions, and delivering long-term returns.
Its investment framework, approved by Sheikh Khaled in July 2026, targets priority sectors including energy and utilities, urban development, ports and logistics, aviation and industrial, alongside alternative investments to further diversify the asset base.
Portfolio
At the point of ADQ absorption, L'IMAD's portfolio comprises the operating businesses previously held by ADQ, including:
- Taqa (Abu Dhabi National Energy Company) — energy and utilities; L'IMAD acquired 2PointZero's full stake in Taqa in June–July 2026
- Etihad Rail — national rail network
- Etihad Airways — national carrier
- PureHealth — UAE's largest integrated healthcare platform
- AD Ports Group — port infrastructure and logistics
- Wio Bank — UAE digital-first banking platform
- Modon Holding / Modon Properties — real estate development
- McLaren — British luxury automaker
- Louis Dreyfus Company — French global commodities trader
- Aramex — regional logistics and last-mile network
Notable transactions and activity
- Modon Holding acquisition (October 2025). L'IMAD's first public transaction — 42.54 percent stake from IHC — signalling the fund's arrival and inaugurating the Sheikh Khaled sovereign-capital era.
- Warner Bros Discovery consortium bid. L'IMAD joined the Paramount Skydance–led consortium bidding for Warner Bros Discovery alongside Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and the Qatar Investment Authority. The tri-Gulf consortium structure was a departure from prior ADQ deal architecture and signalled the fund's willingness to participate in politically visible Western media transactions.
- ADQ consolidation (30 January 2026). Absorbed the full ADQ asset base — approximately $263 billion — via Supreme Council resolution, immediately establishing L'IMAD as one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world by AUM.
- Taqa 2PointZero acquisition (June–July 2026). Acquired 2PointZero's full stake in the power and water utility, consolidating utility ownership under L'IMAD.
Position in Abu Dhabi's sovereign architecture
L'IMAD's arrival extends Abu Dhabi's sovereign system from three pillars to four:
- ADIA — approximately $1.1 trillion, external return-seeking global institutional investor, established 1976
- Mubadala — approximately $330 billion, future-industries and cross-border direct investor
- L'IMAD — approximately $300 billion, domestic-champion strategic holding (absorbed ADQ)
- MGX — dedicated AI-infrastructure vehicle, $100 billion+ deployment mandate
Combined system AUM approaches $2 trillion, comparable in scale to Norway's Government Pension Fund but distributed across four functionally specialized vehicles rather than one. The four-pillar system is coordinated at the leadership level through overlapping board memberships — most notably Khaldoon Al Mubarak sitting on L'IMAD's board while running Mubadala — and through shared reporting to the Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs.
Israel and the Abraham Accords corridor
L'IMAD inherits ADQ's entire Israel-corridor position, and by extension the sovereign-holding relationships that developed in the wake of the Abraham Accords. Its holdings in PureHealth (healthcare), Louis Dreyfus (food security), AD Ports and Aramex (logistics), and Etihad Rail (infrastructure) collectively define the primary interface points between Abu Dhabi sovereign capital and Israeli agtech, medtech, defense-adjacent supply chain, and infrastructure operators.
The generational shift from Sheikh Tahnoun to Sheikh Khaled at sovereign-fund chairmanship is worth noting for Israeli counterparties. Sheikh Tahnoun was one of the principal Emirati architects of the UAE-Israel relationship during the Accords era. Sheikh Khaled inherits the mandate but with different peer relationships and a different institutional temperament. Early L'IMAD signaling — the Warner Bros Discovery consortium play alongside PIF and QIA — suggests a fund positioned for higher-visibility Western transactions than ADQ typically pursued.
Related coverage on Olam
- ADQ (Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company) — the predecessor entity absorbed by L'IMAD in January 2026
- Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) — the emirate's institutional-return sovereign fund, approximately $1.1 trillion AUM
- Mubadala — Abu Dhabi's future-industries sovereign fund, approximately $330 billion AUM
- MGX — the dedicated AI-infrastructure investment vehicle
- International Holding Company (IHC) — the UAE's largest publicly listed conglomerate, from which L'IMAD acquired its first public stake
- Abraham Accords — the 2020 UAE-Israel normalization framework underpinning the sovereign-Israel corridor
- Sovereign & Strategic Capital — Olam's ongoing coverage of sovereign wealth architecture across the Israeli-Gulf-diaspora system
Entity profile last reviewed: July 2026.
