Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) today, Tuesday, October 20, 2009, jointly hosted with Morgan Stanley and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), an investment conference and road-show in London.
The one-day event provides participating ADX listed companies the opportunity to meet and build relationships with leading institutional investors from the UK and Europe.
“Through the arrangement of investors’ one-on-one meetings, ADX seeks to promote Abu Dhabi and attract increased foreign investment by facilitating the necessary dialogue between our listed companies and the World’s major investors,” commented Tom Healy, ADX’s Chief Executive in his welcome address. The distinguished audience also benefited from presentations by Michael Tomalin, NBAD’s Group Chief Executive and Habib Achkar, Morgan Stanley’s Managing Director, Regional Manager, Middle East North Africa.
The companies participating from Abu Dhabi include Abu Dhabi National Hotels, Agthia Group, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, RAK Properties, Aldar Properties, Sorouh Real Estate, Dana Gas and Waha Capital.
Healy emphasized that “ADX will organize similar events in other international business and financial centers on a regular basis; a key initiative of the Exchange’s strategy, which aims at promoting Abu Dhabi and the Government’s Plans and Economic Vision.”
“The United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom have already signed a number of agreements for investment protection and enticement since 1993 and this is very helpful in encouraging the flow of foreign investments to Abu Dhabi”, Healy added. The UAE is among the ten most important trading partners for the UK, while the UK ranks sixth in terms of exporters to the UAE; investments from the UK hold top-spot among foreign direct investments in the UAE.
“By the end of September 2009, UK investors ranked first among foreigners and accounted for more than 43 % of the foreign holdings in ADX, up from about 35 % by the end of 2008, and that is a very encouraging sign to further boost the flow of investments,” added the Chief Executive.