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- Smashi Business Exclusive: Janus Henderson Open to Expand in Saudi Arabia
Smashi Business Exclusive: Janus Henderson Open to Expand in Saudi Arabia
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Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Happy Tuesday everyone!
Janus Henderson Investors has told Smashi Business it is exploring a potential office in Saudi Arabia, as the firm deepens its presence in Abu Dhabi, the region’s “Capital of Capital,” with a focus on private credit and institutional growth.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi’s G42 is building an 8-exaflop supercomputer in India with Cerebras, advancing AI sovereignty and access for startups and government agencies. On the global intelligence front, Elie Habib, co-founder of Anghami, launched World Monitor, a free real-time dashboard tracking conflicts, military activity, and geopolitical threats, bringing government-grade situational awareness to the public for the first time.
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Abu Dhabi’s G42 Teams Up With Cerebras To Build National-Scale Supercomputer In India
What Is It About?
Abu Dhabi’s G42 is partnering with US AI chipmaker Cerebras and India’s C-DAC and Mohamed Bin Zayed University of AI to deploy an 8-exaflop national supercomputer in India, hosted locally under Indian governance to expand AI access for startups, SMEs, and government ministries.
Why It Matters?
The project strengthens India’s data sovereignty and AI capabilities, aligning with UAE-India agreements on supercomputing collaboration, data-center investment, and digital infrastructure. G42’s recent launch of the 87B Hindi-English model Nanda underscores its push to localize AI and reduce reliance on foreign systems.
What’s Next?
G42 is exporting AI expertise globally, following projects in Europe and Kazakhstan, and plans a sovereign AI cloud in France. The UAE’s data center capacity is set to surge 165% by 2028, with G42’s 5 GW AI campus, Du and Khazna builds driving further growth.
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Anghami Co-founder Elie Habib Launches Free Real-Time Global Intelligence Dashboard
What Is It About?
Elie Habib, co-founder of Anghami, has built World Monitor, a real-time global intelligence dashboard tracking conflicts, military activity, AI-assessed threats, protests, pipelines, satellite-detected events, and more — all open-sourced and free for anyone to access.
Why It Matters?
World Monitor brings government-grade situational awareness to the public. An AI engine monitors 100+ news sources, generates intelligence briefs, and assigns a live “Instability Index” for each country. Converging signals — like protests, military flights, or fires — trigger instant alerts, a capability historically limited to high-budget intelligence firms.
What’s Next?
Habib’s project democratizes complex geopolitical monitoring, mirroring his work with Anghami in making music widely accessible. World Monitor is live on GitHub, with a demo ready for users worldwide, offering unprecedented, real-time insight into global risks and security trends.
Janus Henderson Investors Open to Saudi Expansion: Head of MEA and Central Asia tells Smashi Business
In an exclusive conversation with Smashi Business, Meshal AlFaras, Head of Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia at Janus Henderson Investors, shares insights on the firm’s Gulf expansion, including plans to explore a new office in Saudi Arabia. He also explains why Abu Dhabi is emerging as the region’s “Capital of Capital” and what trends in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar will shape the GCC investment landscape in 2026.
Q1. Janus Henderson opened its ADGM office in early 2025. Why Abu Dhabi?
Since we opened our first regional office in the DIFC in 2012, the region has become increasingly important for Janus Henderson Investors. Abu Dhabi was a natural choice for our new office because it is home to many of the region’s most sophisticated institutional allocators, and because ADGM has developed into an international financial centre with strong regulatory foundations and global connectivity. The new office allows us to expand our on-the-ground investment presence in the UAE and across the wider GCC region, bringing additional investment expertise and decision-making capability into the region.
There was also a clear investment rationale. The Abu Dhabi office is home to our MENA Private Credit Investment team, following our acquisition of the of NBK Capital Partners in 2024. From ADGM, the team manages Janus Henderson MENA private credit with a strong emphasis on the GCC and the broader MENA region.
More broadly, the move reflects a long-term view that the Gulf’s investor base, regulatory environment, and private capital ecosystem have reached a level of depth and maturity that supports expansion. We continue to invest in capabilities that respond to growing client demand, including areas such as private credit and Islamic investment solutions.
Q2. Can you shed light on the ‘Capital of Capital’ moniker for Abu Dhabi?
The moniker reflects the scale and influence of the capital that is based in Abu Dhabi, particularly through its sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors. These organisations manage large, long-term pools of capital and are active across public markets, private markets, infrastructure, and alternative assets globally.
What makes this capital distinctive is not just its size, but its time horizon. Abu Dhabi’s institutional investors are able to take patient, strategic positions and to support investments through market cycles. That has helped shape a sophisticated ecosystem around them, attracting asset managers, private market specialists, and operating partners from around the world.
At the same time, the development of ADGM has been an important part of that story. Its regulatory framework and global positioning have enabled more of this capital to be structured, managed, and allocated from Abu Dhabi itself. Over time, that has reinforced the emirate’s role as a centre not just for capital ownership, but for capital management and governance as well.
Q3. What trends in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar do you believe will shape 2026?
Across the GCC, one of the most important trends is the continued institutionalisation of markets. In the UAE and Saudi Arabia in particular, we are seeing deeper capital markets, broader participation, and regulatory frameworks that increasingly reflect global best practice. This is why I am so vocal on the point that markets such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia increasingly warrant being viewed through a more developed-market lens, rather than as emerging markets.
In the Kingdom, ongoing reforms to market access, regulation, and infrastructure remain central for international investors. These steps matter because large institutions need clarity and consistency before committing capital at scale. Against that backdrop, we have been clear that Saudi Arabia is strategically important for us. Janus Henderson is exploring the possibility of opening an office in the Kingdom driven by client need and the right operating conditions.
Qatar and Kuwait are also an important part of the regional picture, particularly because of the role its sovereign institutions play in global markets. A timely example is Qatar Investment Authority’s participation as a strategic investor in the consortium that announced a $7.4 billion take-private transaction for Janus Henderson. That is a clear signal of the Gulf’s growing influence in global financial services, and the increasingly international role played by regional capital.
For 2026, then, the picture that stands out is a GCC investment landscape that is increasingly mature, institutionally driven, and globally connected, with long-term capital being managed and allocated from within the region.
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The scarcity of these treasured artworks has helped drive their prices, in exceptional cases, to thin-air heights, without moving in lockstep with other asset classes.
The contemporary and post war segments have even outpaced the S&P 500 overall since 1995.*
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🦄 World of Startups
Stake Raises $31M Series B Led by Emirates NBD, Total Funding Hits $58M
US-based Luma AI is planting its flag in Riyadh — opening a regional headquater
Singapore's Ascentium continues its aggressive expansion, acquiring UAE legaltech pioneer Clara in a strategic Middle East play
Abu Dhabi is quietly becoming one of the most influential financiers of the global AI race, with its latest participation in Anthropic’s massive $30B funding round
Safqah Capital has just closed one of Saudi Arabia’s largest-ever seed rounds, raising $15.2 million in a deal that was four times oversubscribed
👨💻From Smashi Business’ Desk
HH Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
Humain, the artificial intelligence arm of the Public Investment Fund, invested $3 billion in xAI during its Series E round
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s combined stake across Elon Musk’s companies has reached an estimated $9.2 billion.
🔍In other news…
Over 100 nationalities invested $2.2bn in Abu Dhabi real estate in 2025
Saudi Firms Advance IPO Plans in Boost for Flagging Local Bourse
Qatar Wealth Fund Invests in Goldman Alums’ Credit Firm 5C
Trump's tariff hike to 15% adds to Gulf's 'macroeconomic overhang'
Dubai unveils next phase of Dh690m Hessa Street project to cut congestion
🗓️ Plan Your Events (March-April 2026)
UAE
31 March - 2 April (Tuesday-Thursday): Arab Media Summit, Dubai.
26-28 March (Thursday-Saturday): Social Capital Conference, Dubai.
7-9 April (Tuesday-Thursday): Future Health Summit, Adnec Center Abu Dhabi.
13-15 April (Monday-Wednesday): AIM Congress, Dubai World Trade Center.
14-16 April: (Tuesday-Thursday): the International Property Show, Dubai World Trade Center.
Saudi Arabia
13-16 April (Monday-Thursday): Leap Tech Conference, Riyadh Exhibition & Convention Center - Malham.
20-22 April (Monday-Wednesday): Sports Investment Forum (SIF), Riyadh
Egypt
30 March – 1 April (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt International Energy Conference and Exhibition (EGYPES).
