XRG breaks the mould of Gulf NOCs

In the year since its formation, ADNOC’s energy investment company has made ambitious forays into M&A. With new leadership appointees from Wall Street’s elite, the scale of that ambition is set to ramp up

The German government’s granting in late November of regulatory approval for XRG’s acquisition of chemicals company Covestro, coming shortly after newly announced forays by XRG—the energy investment arm of the UAE’s state-owned ADNOC—into Azerbaijan and Argentina, marked a successful end to  a highly active year for a vehicle that has almost doubled its enterprise value to $151b. Set up with a mandate to buy gas, chemicals and low-carbon energy assets, XRG has morphed into the strategic wing of ADNOC, from which it absorbed in September equity stakes in four of the state energy’s listed companies—ADNOC Distribution, ADNOC  Drilling, ADNOC Gas and ADNOC Logistics & Services. XRG’s operati