The managing director of a UAE company that announced the acquisition of the Spanish La Liga football team Getafe yesterday distanced himself from a CV he published on the internet after purported employers and universities denied he was ever involved with them. AFP PHOTO/ LLUIS GENE
The managing director of a UAE company that announced the acquisition of the Spanish La Liga football team Getafe yesterday distanced himself from a CV he published on the internet after purported empShow more

Business

Doubt over La Liga football deal chief's CV

Exclusive: Kaiser Rafiq, managing director of a UAE company that announced the acquisition of the Spanish La Liga football team Getafe, said there has been a "miscommunication" about his career history after a press conference inaugurating the deal at in a ballroom on the 27th floor of the Burj al Arab hotel.

Bradley Hope

April 23, 2011

The managing director of a UAE company that announced the acquisition of the Spanish La Liga football team Getafe on Thursday distanced himself from a CV he published on the internet after purported employers and universities denied he was ever involved with them.

Kaiser Rafiq, who describes himself as the partner and managing director of Royal Emirates Group, said there was a "miscommunication" about his career history after a press conference inaugurating the deal in a ballroom on the 27th floor of the Burj al Arab hotel in Dubai.

Mr Rafiq, who goes by the title Dr Kaiser Rafiq, said in a CV on Linkedin.com and linked directly from the "Managing Director's Message" section of the Royal Emirates Group website, that he had obtained a doctorate from New York University (NYU) and a business degree from Yale University School of Management.

James Devitt, a spokesman for NYU, said the university had no record of his attendance. Tabitha Wilde, the associate director of media relations at Yale School of Management, said there was also no record of his attendance at the school. Mr Rafiq also said he was a member of the "Skull & Bone" society, a likely reference to Yale's secret society Skull and Bones that counts among its members George W Bush and other US politicians.

A spokesman for the Anderson School of Management at the University of California in Los Angeles, where Mr Rafiq claims to have received a bachelor of business administration degree, could not be reached to verify his attendance.

Mr Rafiq also lists he was a vice president of sales and marketing at Trump Organisation, the chief executive of Prudential Real Estate's UAE office, and country manager of Zee TV USA.

Rhona Graff-Riccio, a more than 20-year veteran of Trump Organisation and assistant to the eponymous founder of the company Donald Trump, said: "I've never heard of him." Theresa Miller, a spokeswoman for Prudential Financial, said the company did not have a brokerage operation in the UAE and that Prudential had no records of his employment.

Suresh Bala, the US country manager of Zee TV, said there was no record of Mr Rafiq's employment.

Mr Rafiq said last night he "was not applying for a job" when questioned about the apparent errors. "There are some things that have been on here for two or three or four years," he added. "Maybe the proper title, the proper working relationship might not have been displayed correctly."

He said he had submitted a thesis to NYU on corporate manipulation, but did not recall the name of the school within the university or the name of his thesis adviser. "There might be a miscommunication or error," he said.

Mr Rafiq said he had created his own company in the UAE called Prudential, but could not explain why his CV states he "worked for American based largest real estate brokerage as CEO". Finally, he claimed the reference to a relationship with Zee TV "could be a little bit error in this way".

He lists himself as the executive director of Tawasol Emirates Media, a company that had its logo emblazoned on a new logo of the Getafe football team that included the words "Team Dubai" superimposed below.

The company says on its website it is involved in publishing and distribution of magazines, newspapers, directories and books, as well as other media activities.

Mr Rafiq said on his CV he was involved with My Assetz Investment Management and was the chief executive of DubaiRoomShare.com,, a roommate finder service.

The refutations of sections of his CV came in the midst of Royal Emirates Group's signing ceremony in the Burj al Arab to buy the Getafe team for what Mr Rafiq said was between €70 million (Dh374.8m) and €90m.

He declined to characterise how the company would pay for the deal except to say the majority would come from the company's own cash reserves.

The details of the arrangement were a "confidential matter", he said during a question-and-answer session after the signing of the deal with a Spanish dignitary and Angel Torres Sanchez, the president of Getafe.

In an earlier interview Mr Rafiq said Royal Emirates was a "more than billion dollar company" focusing on oil and gas, tourism and property with 200 subsidiaries and brands. The company is not widely known in the UAE business world and has announced few deals.

Royal Emirates describes itself on its website as "an emerging leading group with diverse business interests in the local and international markets". The company "has practically mirrored the development of modern Dubai, standing tall as one of the country's most dynamic business groups today", the website says, adding it owns 64 companies and brands.

The group signed a partnership agreement with Mechatronic Engineering and Construction last November, according to a press release, and announced deals involving yacht building and helicopter purchases for lease last year and in 2009.

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While you're here

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”