Lunate teams up with Brevan Howard to launch digital asset funds in UAE

Lunate, UAE based global alternative investment manager with $110 billion in assets under management (AUM), and Brevan Howard, one of the world’s most successful hedge fund managers with AUM of $34 billion, have formed a strategic long-term partnership to establish an investment platform to be domiciled in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), subject to regulatory approval which will include digital asset funds.

As per the press release, through the partnership Abu Dhabi based Lunate has committed $2 billion to create new funds that are exclusive to the partnership and include macro and digital assets.

These funds will leverage Brevan Howard’s existing strategies and investment capabilities, including macro and digital assets. Additional capital is expected to be raised over time from local and international investors.

Brevan Howard’s Founder Alan Howard added, “The long-term partnership with Lunate reflects our deep and ongoing commitment to the region and we look forward to building on this foundation over time.”

Additionally Lunate is also acquiring a minority ownership stake in Brevan Howard, which means it is expanding into hedge funds as part of its product diversification and investment solutions for its clients in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and globe.

“Our new partnership with Brevan Howard marks our expansion into hedge funds and reflects our commitment to work with the best investment firms in the world, offering our clients access to unique strategies to further diversify their portfolios,” said Khalifa Al Suwaidi, Managing Partner at Lunate.

Brevan Howard carried out significant amount of crypto trading from UAE

Brevan Howard established a regional headquarter office in ADGM in early 2023, which is now their largest office by assets managed globally. In 2024, during the AIM Conference in Dubai, Brevan Howard noted that it does a significant amount of its crypto trading from the United Arab Emirates. Ryan Taylor, Group head of compliance at Brevan Howard stated that this was because of the country’s sensible regulations.

Taylor stated, “The regulators in the UAE are hard, but they want the industry to fly and so they write sensible regulations and they are prepared to talk to the industry in order to evolve those regulations.”

Taylor said that Brevan Howard’s crypto trading operations represented about $2 billion of the firm’s total strategies which he said were over $30 billion. Brevan Howard has become the first global hedge fund to have 100 employees in the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier this year, the UAE branch of Brevan Howard Digital deployed $20M in assets on Kinto, a blockchain DeFi financial portal which rewards active participants such as traditional financial entities who deposit assets on-chain with token emissions.

Kinto enables financial institutions to deploy capital on-chain while meeting their strict legal and compliance requirements.

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