ADIA upped secondaries exposure last year amid ‘boon’ for buyside

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the world’s fourth-largest sovereign wealth fund by assets, increased its secondaries exposure last year amid better conditions for dealflow in the strategy.

The Gulf-based investor increased its allocation to secondaries and also invested in “new secondaries” platforms in 2022, it noted in its review for the year, published on Tuesday. The report did not disclose details of its revised secondaries allocation and a spokesperson for ADIA declined to provide further details.

Market conditions last year “proved a boon for providers of secondaries and direct lending capital, both of which saw increased demand as more traditional exit and financing routes faced challenges”, ADIA wrote in the review.

ADIA topped a list of largest known commitments to secondaries funds last year, with its $4 billion allocation to Ardian’s ASF IX programme, as Secondaries Investor reported. The SWF also entrusted $2 billion to Ardian for secondaries co-investments on top of the fund commitment, Secondaries Investor reported in November.

The institution also backed Apollo Global Management‘s sponsor and secondaries solutions business, S3, in August last year with a cornerstone commitment.

ADIA increased its overall allocation to private equity to between 10 percent and 15 percent, from a range of between 7 percent and 12 percent the prior year, according to the review.

The sovereign fund has around $853 billion in assets, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.