(Bloomberg) -- When David Solomon admitted to Ken Griffin that hopes for a surge in companies going public this year had so far been miserably unfulfilled, a nervous laugh rippled through the room.
That wasn’t even the grimmest dose of anxiety at last week’s gathering in Abu Dhabi, which drew hedge fund titans eying a slice of the Gulf city’s riches.
Just a day earlier, Paul Singer, founder of Elliott Investment Management, warned the crowd that he feared the US dollar might lose its reserve currency status, according to people present, who asked not to be named discussing a private conference. Singer also cautioned that geopolitical tensions could boil over into war, without specifying which conflict.
The hedge fund chiefs had gathered for a private event convened by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. at a luxury hotel in the United Arab Emirates capital. It came against the backdrop of tariff-driven turmoil that’s roiled global markets and triggered losses at firms which, just weeks earlier, had been staunchly bullish on US President Donald Trump’s economic agenda.
Some in attendance, including Griffin’s Citadel, have emerged relatively unscathed. But for many hedge funds, their sights were set on one thing: The growing pot of money in the Middle East, which is looking increasingly attractive as US investors brace for recession risks.
Representatives for Goldman, Citadel and Elliott declined to comment.
Intended to introduce hedge funds to investors with dry powder to deploy, the summit was Goldman’s first official “cap-intro” event in the region, bringing about 100 traders and allocators to Abu Dhabi’s Al Maryah — a hub so densely packed with financial firms it’s been dubbed “hedge fund island.”
The event also underscored Abu Dhabi’s emergence as a serious global financial center. Sitting atop 6% of the world’s oil reserves and stewarding $1.7 trillion in sovereign wealth, the emirate has turned its deep pockets into a magnet for global capital. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chief executive officer of Mubadala Investment Co. — the world’s most active sovereign wealth fund in 2024 — was among the most prominent attendees.
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Over the past few years, it has drawn marquee firms — from Wall Street banks and asset managers to hedge funds like Marshall Wace and Brevan Howard Asset Management. Together with neighboring Dubai, Abu Dhabi has fashioned itself into a financial nerve center — and events like Goldman’s summit are quickly becoming staples for global money managers.
In Griffin’s fireside chat with Goldman CEO Solomon, the billionaire hedge fund manager discussed the ripple effects of tariffs on markets — particularly the need to understand and address the turmoil in Treasuries.
The Citadel chief criticized Europe’s reliance on US defense spending, calling the arrangement lopsided and echoing Trump’s complaint that nations on that continent benefited from American protection without shouldering their fair share. He also took aim at government inefficiency back home, once again praising Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which recently hired one of his own staffers.
Griffin, who donated at least $100 million to pro-Republican political action committees during the last presidential cycle — though none of it went to Trump’s campaign — was among the prominent finance executives to speak out about the risks of the president’s tariff policy.
At the conference, Solomon was accompanied by Jared Cohen, Goldman’s president of global affairs and a former US State Department official who has helped steer the company through geopolitical headwinds since joining in 2022.
“In the case of UAE, they remain the preferred location for international business to headquarter and the place where people find most attractive to live in the region,” Cohen said in a discussion earlier this year. “They want to maintain that first-mover advantage.”
Cohen and Solomon are increasingly courting the region’s capital not just for hedge fund clients — but also for Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund recently became an anchor investor in a new series by the unit, which now oversees about $3 trillion in assets.
Top hedge fund managers Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global Investors and Paul Marshall of Marshall Wace also appeared at the conference, discussing their management styles amid the recent market turmoil.
But while headline speakers took the stage, much of the real action unfolded on the margins. Tables on the cafe at the ground floor buzzed with fund managers pitching to allocators and entrepreneurs courting backers. Attire ranged from sharp suits to kanduras and sandals, as Emirati investors rotated through meetings in small groups.
Some hedge fund firms, including Viking, Caxton Associates and D1 Capital Partners, as well as alternative investor Blue Owl Capital, had dedicated breakout rooms. High-profile attendees included SurgoCap Partners’ Mala Gaonkar and Balyasny Asset Management’s Middle East and North Africa chief Tarek Rizk were spotted at the invitation-only event.
Representatives for the firms did not respond to requests for comment.
It wasn’t all shop talk.
During the day, attendees tested their skills on virtual Formula One racing simulators set up at the conference center. When the programming wrapped, the crowd split: A select group of clients attended a private gathering, while most others headed to the Art Lounge at Abu Dhabi’s Louvre museum for dinner.
There, they were offered a night tour of an exhibit, titled “Forms and Figures of Power.”
