Wellington Management (“Wellington”), one of the world’s largest independent investment management firms, with more than USD1.1 trillion assets under management globally, has established a new office in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in the Gate building. In addition, Wellington Management (DIFC) Limited have been granted a Prudential Category 4 Regulatory Licence by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).

 Wellington has managed assets on behalf of Middle East clients for 29 years from its London office, including for clients and prospects in DIFC and UAE. The new Dubai office is the first step in the firm’s strategy to support clients in their local markets, expand its global footprint in EMEA, and continue its active investment in the region across both public and private markets. Following formal approval and licencing from the DFSA, the Dubai office will form part of its Wellington’s EMEA office footprint, which now includes London, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan and Zurich.

 Stefan Haselwandter, Vice Chair and Head of Client Platform for Wellington Management said, “Establishing a local presence in the Middle East will help us expand our international reach and accessibility to our clients. As markets evolve and become more complex, we believe staying close to clients and being available to them in their home markets is of critical importance.  We look forward to working with the DFSA and DIFC Authority as we grow our operations and expand our presence in the region.”

 Arif Amiri, Chief Executive Officer of DIFC Authority, commented: “DIFC is delighted to welcome Wellington Asset Management to Dubai and DIFC, from where it will serve existing clients as well as access new clients by tapping into the region’s vast amount of public and private capital.  Wellington is a top 10 Global Asset Manager and will bring nearly a century of investment excellence and talent to DIFC, further enhancing our market leading position as home to 10 of the top 20 Asset Managers in the world.”

 The DIFC office will be led by Waleed Al-Rezooqi, who joined Wellington earlier this year as Senior Executive Officer & Director, Middle East, within Wellington’s EMEA Client Group. He is responsible for leading Wellington’s business development and relationship management activities in the Middle East.  Waleed has more than 14 years of experience and was most recently Executive Director for Morgan Stanley Investment Management where he was responsible for originating transactions across public and private markets and managing key relationships with institutional clients in the Middle East.