Body of Abu Dhabi Fund Manager Found

By OLIVER KLAUS
DUBAI--The United Arab Emirates said Tuesday that rescue teams found the body of the managing director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world's largest investors, ending a search that began late last week after a glider he was riding in crashed into a lake in Morocco.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al Nahyan, a younger brother of Abu Dhabi's ruler and the president of the United Arab Emirates, went missing late last week. A glider he was riding in crashed near Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdullah dam, south of the Moroccan city of Rabat. The craft's Spanish pilot survived the accident and was quickly rescued. U.A.E. officials had previously said rough terrain and bad weather around the lake had hindered the search.

ADIA, one of the world's largest and most secretive funds, invests the emirate's oil revenue. Abu Dhabi, the largest and wealthiest of seven semi-autonomous emirates that make up the U.A.E, sits on the world's sixth-largest crude oil reserves.

Sheikh Ahmed was seen as a hands-on manager at ADIA and played a role in its recent move toward more transparency. But his death isn't expected to affect the fund's overall strategy.

Executives have long described ADIA as a very large pension fund. About 80% of ADIA's assets are managed by external fund managers, and 60% of the funds are invested in index-tracking strategies, the fund has said. ADIA has never disclosed its size, but some estimates over the years have ranged above $500 billion.

A succession plan at ADIA is in motion, according to a person familiar with the situation.

ADIA pumped $7.5 billion into Citigroup Inc. in 2007, the biggest of several infusions by Mideast and Asian sovereign funds into U.S. and European banks. While banking executives, suffering the worst of the global financial crisis, welcomed the deals, officials in Washington and European capitals raised concerns over the political ramifications.

In response, ADIA and other funds agreed with the International Monetary Fund to abide by a set of commercially-based investing principles. Earlier this month, ADIA disclosed for the first time performance numbers, saying its annualized return over the last 30 years was 8% per year.

Sheikh Ahmed was last year ranked No. 27 on Forbes's list of the world's most powerful people. Apart from ADIA, Sheikh Ahmed also sat on Abu Dhabi's top oil body, the Supreme Petroleum Council.

—Chip Cummins contributed to this article.
Write to Oliver Klaus at oliver.klaus@dowjones.com