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Lunate buys 40% stake in ADNOC Oil Pipelines

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Purchased from Blackstone, KKR for undisclosed sum

(Adds details, context)

By Hadeel Al Sayegh

DUBAI, April 3 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi investor Lunate

said on Wednesday it had bought a 40% stake from private equity

firms BlackRock ( BLK ) and KKR in the entity that

leases Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (ADNOC) oil pipelines.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction

returns the stake to local hands after the two U.S funds bought

it for $4 billion in 2019, becoming the first foreign investors

to acquire infrastructure assets of a Gulf national oil company.

It highlights how Abu Dhabi, home to three wealth funds that

collectively manage about $1.4 trillion of assets and positions

itself as the "Capital of Capital", is creating a new national

champion in the alternative investments sector with Lunate.

Alternative investments are in areas such as private equity

and infrastructure, rather than traditional financial

instruments such as equities and bonds.

ADNOC Oil Pipelines, which has a 23-year lease on ADNOC's

ownership interests in 22 pipelines, was formed as part of a

broader strategy by ADNOC to raise billions of dollars through

sales of stakes in energy assets and attract foreign investors.

Lunate's investment "aligns with our long-term capital

strategy to identify and invest in premium infrastructure

assets," managing partner Murtaza Hussain said in a statement.

"It also presents an opportunity to invest in a core Abu Dhabi

asset and demonstrates our confidence in the UAE economy."

Lunate manages $105 billion of assets and is in part backed

by sovereign wealth fund ADQ. It is part of the business empire

steered by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab

Emirates' (UAE) national security adviser and brother of UAE

President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Sheikh Tahnoun also chairs the Abu Dhabi Investment

Authority, estimated by wealth fund tracker Global SWF to manage

$968 billion in assets, and ADQ, the emirate's third largest

wealth fund.

Lunate invests across private markets including buyouts,

growth equity, early and late-stage venture capital, private

credit, real assets, and public equities and public credit,

according to its website.

It launched a $30 billion climate fund dubbed ALTÉRRA at the

COP28 U.N. climate summit, in collaboration with global asset

managers BlackRock ( BLK ), Brookfield, and TPG, in December.

Lunate falls under a newly formed holding company called

2PointZero, whose portfolio includes assets across industries

from asset management to mining, and which is owned by IHC, Abu

Dhabi's largest listed company. IHC is planning to list

2PointZero next year, Bloomberg reported last month.