(Bloomberg) — Dubai’s financial district reported a record 25% increase in company registrations last year, helped in part by a continuing influx of hedge funds that’s transformed the city into an emerging hub for the sector.
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Dubai International Financial Centre now houses 6,920 active companies, up from 5,523 last year, according to a statement on Tuesday. That’s the most number of registrations in a single year.
Technology and innovation was the fastest growing sector, with registrations rising 38% to 1,245 companies in 2024, the DIFC said. It added that the alternative investment industry is growing faster than the market.
The financial free-zone is now home to 75 hedge funds, 48 of which have assets exceeding $1 billion each. “The Centre has become one of the world’s top ten locations for hedge funds and is on track to become top five in the coming years,” the DIFC said.
The centre is attracting companies from the developed markets of Europe and the US along with markets from Asia, DIFC Governor Essa Kazim told reporters on Tuesday. In the past year, the DIFC has licensed two Chinese banks, adding to four existing ones, Kazim said.
“We are actually sourcing very well from Asia,” he said. Those firms want to “position here to really capitalize on not only our regulatory framework and infrastructure and the facilities that we provide,” but also to use the center as a springboard into other parts of the world, he added. The total number of hedge funds has nearly doubled from a year earlier, he said.
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The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, has emerged as a magnet for hedge funds over the past few years. Izzy Englander’s Millennium, Michael Platt’s BlueCrest Capital Management, and Balyasny have all expanded operations to Dubai, drawn by a slew of incentives, a favorable timezone and a low tax regime.
The sector employs over 1,000 people, Bloomberg News has reported, while overall headcount at the DIFC grew 10% to 46,078 last year. That’s also helping the city sidestep a commercial real estate slump, with DIFC owned and managed properties reporting occupancy rates of 99.8%.
Neighboring Abu Dhabi, which has the attraction of being one of few cities globally to manage more than $1.6 trillion in sovereign wealth, has also managed to draw in big names. Brevan Howard Asset Management now manages more money from that emirate than anywhere else, Bloomberg News has reported.
