PHOTO
ADQ plans to set up one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies in Abu Dhabi, as the sovereign wealth fund continues to see its portfolio of entities grow profits by 20% annually.
Following the acquisition of four pharmaceutical companies, Dr. Jaap Kalkman, chief investment officer of ADQ, said future plans include further pharma acquisitions, which will then be merged and headquartered in Abu Dhabi to create one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.
The pharma company will then be listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), Kalkman said.
In 2021, ADQ acquired Pharmax, a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer in the UAE and Amoun, one of Egypt's top pharma companies.
Kalkman said at the Abu Dhabi Economic Forum, held on the first day of Abu Dhabi Finance Week, that ADQ was investing heavily in digital transformation and innovation and its 25 companies habitually saw 20% annual profit growth, with plans to grow globally.
In the future he said ADQ may merge more of companies or buy other entities in fields in which it is not yet present.
“Our board of course is used to the 20% improvement in profits every year, of course there is no reason not to demand that to continue, they ask us to continue. How do we do that? We do that by growing globally,” he said.
“We cannot only grow our business [in the UAE], we have to grow internationally, we do that regionally, we do that in countries where we have privileged relations, we do it everywhere,” he said.
ADQ has Abu Dhabi airline Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi Airports and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi in its portfolio, as well as AD Ports Group, PureHealth and Agthia Group.
Hamad AlHammidi, CEO, energy and utilities, and sustainable manufacturing, ADQ, said the focus of the company is to transform a number of state-owned enterprises into more sustainable businesses, and eventually take these assets and companies into the stock market.
“Because we strongly believe taking companies into the stock market increases its resilience and transparency, allowing investors to look into the companies, scrutinising them and making them grow,” he said.
(Reporting by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Seban Scaria)
