(Bloomberg) — Abu Dhabi’s largest wealth fund has hired the finance chief of a unit of JD.com Inc. to help oversee its private equity investments in China, as the United Arab Emirates increases its bets on emerging markets.
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Former Jingdong Industrials Inc. chief financial officer Hugo Hu has joined the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as China head of its private equity unit, a spokesman for the fund said in response to a question from Bloomberg News.
A representative for JD.com declined to comment.
Hu joined JD Group, a leading e-commerce platform in China, in 2021, first as head of the strategic investment unit, before taking on roles as CFO of Jingdong Industrials in December 2022.
His departure from Jingdong Industrials comes as the JD.com Inc. subsidiary seeks to list in Hong Kong. Before JD, he worked for Warburg Pincus for about a decade.
ADIA, which controls nearly $1 billion in assets, is channeling more of its financial power to private equity. Meanwhile, companies and funds in the UAE, of which Abu Dhabi is a part, have forged close ties with China and India, strengthening investment and commercial ties by signing agreements worth billions of dollars.
The Gulf country recently joined the BRICS group of large emerging markets, which includes both Asian nations.
ADIA is chaired by UAE royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who oversees an empire that includes artificial intelligence company G42. Hu’s predecessor at JD Group was hired by G42’s $10 billion technology fund 42X to lead its Shanghai office, Bloomberg News previously reported.
–With assistance from Sarah Zheng and Edwin Chan.
(Updates with details in lead, 6th paragraph)
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