Christof Ruhl, a German academic who specializes in energy economics and has been with BP since 2005, will start at ADIA in July, the fund said in an emailed statement Tuesday. He’ll start and lead an independent research team that provides the fund’s senior executives with proprietary research, the statement said.
ADIA is one of the longest-established and largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, with assets estimated at $773 billion by the U.S.-based Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. It invests excess energy revenues for Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The appointment comes as ADIA continues a years-long shift toward managing more of its assets in-house and hiring its own portfolio-management talent instead of relying on external asset managers. In an annual review covering 2012, the fund said 25% of its assets were managed internally, up from 20% the previous year.
Mr. Ruhl taught at universities in Germany and the U.S. before working at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and then as the chief economist for Russia and Brazil at the World Bank, ADIA’s statement said. He subsequently joined BP, providing economic analysis that played into the energy giant’s business decisions.
At ADIA, he will report to Khaleefa Al Qamzi, the director of the fund’s evaluation and follow-up division. He’ll be based in Abu Dhabi.
Source: WSJ
