UAE Edition 
Egypt Edition 
Saudi Edition 
MENA <> India Corridor 
Logistics (MENA) 
Climate (MENA) 
Share
Read Full Issue 
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) and Mubadala are starting the year off strong with fresh investments, following a busy year of investments and acquisitions.
#1- Adia invests in GMR Group: The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s (Adia) completed its INR 63 bn (c. USD 733.4 mn) debt investment in Indian infrastructure firm and airport operator GMR Group, the firm said in a filing (pdf) on the Indian stock exchange. The investment comes in the form of optionally convertible debentures, which can be converted into equity based on specific conditions later down the line.
ICYMI- Adia received the greenlight from India’s competition watchdog for the debt subscription last month as GMR Group looks to refinance its external debt — which reached INR 44.8 bn (c. USD 532.5 mn) as of December — and reduce pledged shareholding in its airport business. The transaction saw a GMR Group special purpose vehicle acquire a 9% stake in GMR’s airport unit GMR Airports, in order to pledge it to Adia to secure its subscription, the company said in a previous filing.
#2- Mubadala Capital led a USD 200 mn funding round for the newly launched biotech company Tenvie Therapeutics, alongside Arch Venture Partners and F-Prime Capital, according to a press release. Mubadala now has a representative on Tenvie’s board, alongside the other investors.
Where the money will go: Tenvie, focused on transforming the treatment of neurological diseases, plans to use the fresh funding to advance multiple assets into clinical stages, including candidates in the investigational new drug-enabling phase. The company acquired several small-molecule assets from Denali Therapeutics, with former Denali senior VP Tony Estrada now serving as Tenvie’s CSO and president.
Mubadala is big on healthtech and biotech firms: The sovereign wealth fund’s Kelix Bio acquired four pharma assets from GlobalOne Healthcare Holding back in October, including biopharma and IV solutions manufacturing companies Bioventure, Bioventure Healthcare, Gulf Inject, and Wellpharma. It also finalized its acquisition of a minority stake in US-based healthtech Zelis earlier in December, and acquired Belgian biopharma firm UCB ’s carved out neurology and allergy business in China in a transaction worth USD 680 mn alongside Singapore-based healthcare-focused asset manager CBC Group in August.
