ADIB Capital Launches UAE's First Sharia-Compliant Digital Infrastructure Fund

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UAE's first Sharia-compliant digital infrastructure fund. Diversify with data centers and cloud assets in the Middle East.

ADIB Capital has launched the ADIB Digital Infrastructure Fund, described as the UAE's first Sharia-compliant vehicle targeting listed digital infrastructure equities.
The fund is incorporated in the DIFC and regulated by the DFSA, targeting professional and institutional investors under established common law governance.
The portfolio will hold approximately 20-25 listed equities across data centers, cell towers, fibre networks and connectivity platforms, focusing on North America and Europe.
ADIB Capital is co-managing the fund with an affiliate of DigitalBridge Group, a global specialist in digital infrastructure investment and operations.
A dedicated Sharia Supervisory Board has approved the fund's structure and will screen investee companies against Islamic finance principles on an ongoing basis.
The launch aligns with accelerating multi-billion dollar UAE sovereign and institutional investment into data centers and AI-ready infrastructure across the region.

DIFC-Regulated Fund Bridges Islamic Finance and Global Digital Infrastructure

The ADIB Digital Infrastructure Fund is incorporated within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the UAE's common law financial hub, and operates under the supervision of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). This regulatory setting provides institutional investors with a rigorous and familiar governance framework, underpinned by the DFSA's Collective Investment Rules covering disclosure, valuation, custody and investor classification.

At the heart of the fund's design is a Sharia Supervisory Board - a specialist governance body that has reviewed and approved the fund's investment framework and documentation. Working alongside the DFSA's regulatory layer and the specialist capabilities of DigitalBridge Group, this board enables Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank's asset management arm to serve as a credible bridge between global digital infrastructure opportunity and the faith-based mandates of Gulf institutional allocators.

A New Gateway for Islamic Institutional Capital

ADIB Capital Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), launched the ADIB Digital Infrastructure Fund in February 2026. The vehicle is the first of its kind in the UAE - a Sharia-compliant fund dedicated to listed digital infrastructure equities - and is designed to give regional and international investors structured access to the global digital infrastructure theme within an Islamic framework.

According to coverage by IBS Intelligence and MEA Finance, the fund is framed as both a portfolio diversification tool and a response to growing demand from Islamic institutional allocators for exposure to technology-driven infrastructure. Until now, this segment has largely been accessible only through conventional funds or private market vehicles that fall outside standard Sharia mandates.

What the Fund Invests In

The fund will hold a concentrated portfolio of approximately 20-25 listed equities across companies operating core digital infrastructure assets - including data centers, cell towers, fibre networks and connectivity platforms. The geographic focus is North America and Europe, reflecting the depth and scale of public markets for digital infrastructure operators in those regions.

ADIB Capital uses a bottom-up, fundamentals-driven investment process, targeting businesses it believes trade at a discount to intrinsic value while delivering durable cashflow characteristics. This high-conviction approach aims to enhance risk-adjusted returns relative to broader indices, while maintaining sectoral spread across the different segments of the digital infrastructure value chain. The fund's focus on listed securities distinguishes it from private equity or direct real estate vehicles, offering investors periodic liquidity while still accessing the long-duration, infrastructure-like economics of the underlying assets.

DigitalBridge Partnership Brings Sector Depth

ADIB Capital will co-manage the fund with an affiliate of DigitalBridge Group, a global investment manager specialising exclusively in digital infrastructure. DigitalBridge and its affiliates own, operate and invest across hyperscale and colocation data centers, tower portfolios, fibre networks and edge facilities worldwide, according to the fund's disclosures.

The partnership is designed to combine ADIB's Islamic finance expertise and Gulf investor relationships with DigitalBridge's deep knowledge of asset selection, valuation and operational due diligence in competitive North American and European markets. For institutional allocators, this structure offers both specialist digital infrastructure capability and a robust Sharia governance layer - a combination that has been difficult to source in a single vehicle.

Sharia Governance Framework

The fund's Sharia Supervisory Board has formally approved its structure, investment framework and legal documentation. The board screens prospective investee companies to exclude those involved in prohibited activities - such as conventional financial services, gambling and alcohol - and monitors financial ratios, including debt levels and interest income, against accepted Islamic screening criteria. This multi-layer process, which also draws on ADIB Group's broader risk management and compliance infrastructure, is presented as a key differentiator from generalist technology or infrastructure funds.

Under DFSA rules, public funds in DIFC that operate on a Sharia-compliant basis are required to make disclosures around Sharia governance arrangements and screening methodologies. The Dubai Financial Market's published Sharia classification list provides an additional reference point used by Islamic funds investing in listed regional equities, reinforcing the transparency of the compliance framework.

The UAE's Expanding Digital Infrastructure Investment Landscape

The fund launch takes place against a backdrop of accelerating UAE institutional and sovereign capital flows into data centers and AI-ready infrastructure. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Singapore's GIC co-led a USD 1.6 billion investment into Vantage Data Centers' Asia-Pacific platform. Separately, Khazna Data Centers secured more than USD 2.6 billion in financing to expand AI-enabled facilities across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ajman - illustrating both the scale and strategic priority of digital infrastructure in the UAE's investment agenda.

Sector analysts and commentators - including contributors to paolovolani.com and Morgan Lewis's Data Center Bytes blog - highlight that data centers and digital hubs now function as strategic infrastructure assets rather than niche technical properties. Their value is driven by long-term capacity contracts, high switching costs and mission-critical power and connectivity requirements, all of which appeal to institutional investors seeking long-duration, inflation-resilient cashflows.

For Islamic investors who have historically had limited access to specialist Sharia-compliant technology and infrastructure funds, the ADIB Digital Infrastructure Fund opens a segment previously dominated by conventional structures. It allows Sharia-focused banks, takaful operators and family offices to pursue digital transformation themes - including cloud services, 5G connectivity and AI infrastructure demand - within established Islamic mandates, and positions ADIB Capital as an early mover in what may become a broader category of specialised Islamic infrastructure vehicles.

What Clients are Asking their Advisors

What makes a digital infrastructure fund Sharia-compliant?

A Sharia-compliant fund screens out companies involved in prohibited activities such as conventional banking, alcohol and gambling, and checks financial ratios to ensure debt levels and interest income remain within accepted Islamic limits. A dedicated Sharia Supervisory Board reviews and formally approves the fund's structure, then monitors ongoing compliance throughout the life of the fund.

Who is eligible to invest in the ADIB Digital Infrastructure Fund?

The fund is structured as a public fund under DFSA rules in DIFC and is aimed at professional and institutional investors rather than retail clients. Eligible participants would typically include Islamic banks, takaful operators, family offices and institutional allocators meeting the DFSA's professional investor classification thresholds.

How does a listed digital infrastructure fund differ from a private equity data center fund?

Unlike private equity vehicles, which lock up capital to acquire or develop physical data centers, the ADIB fund invests in listed equities of digital infrastructure companies, providing greater liquidity. Investors gain access to similar long-term, contract-backed cashflow characteristics without the extended lock-up periods typical of direct or private market infrastructure funds.

What are the key risks of investing in a listed digital infrastructure fund?

Listed digital infrastructure funds carry market risk, meaning share prices can be volatile even when underlying business cashflows are relatively stable. Additional considerations include sector concentration, currency exposure from investing primarily in North American and European equities, and the possibility that Sharia screening narrows the investable universe compared with a conventional equivalent.