Jumeirah is to operate a major new hotel near the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca. Bandar Aldandani / AFP
Jumeirah is to operate a major new hotel near the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca. Bandar Aldandani / AFP

Jumeirah Group to open first Saudi hotel



Dubai Holding has announced that its hospitality business, Jumeirah Group, is to operate its first hotel in Saudi Arabia after signing a deal for a new five-star hotel in Mecca.
The investment company has signed with Jabal Omar Development Company to operate a major hotel housed in four towers offering views overlooking Mecca's Grand Mosque. Jumeirah Group's hotel will have 1,033 guest rooms and will also operate 93 villas and a range of food and beverage outlets, as well as an executive lounge, a gym and more than 90 retail units. The hotel is due to open in early 2019, it said. 
The deal will take the total number of hotels Jumeirah Group operates to 22, housing some 7,164 rooms. The latest move follows a similar agreement signed by Dubai's Emaar Properties last month to open an Address Hotels + Resorts-branded property with 1,490 hotel rooms and suites, also near the Grand Mosque in Mecca, which is also due to open in 2019.

Edris Al Rafi, the chief executive of Dubai Holding, said the deal marked a "key milestone" in the next phase of Jumeirah Group's international expansion strategy.
"It will also mark the group's first presence in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in [Mecca], one of the holiest sites in the world and the highest in real estate value."
Yasser Al Sharif, the chief executive of Jabal Omar Development , added: "We are pleased to work with an established global hospitality brand grown in our region, such as Jumeirah Group, and we look forward to a fruitful cooperation."
A study published last month by CBRE stated that the supply of hotels in Mecca is set to increase by more than 80 per cent over the next five years.
Although the city currently has 45,000 rooms in 110 hotels, some 35,000 more are due to be added between 2017 and 2022.
Jabal Omar Development is the firm responsible for developing more than 2 million square metres of hotel and residential tower clusters overlooking the Grand Mosque.
Four phases of the project have been launched so far, but in March the company said it had gained permission for a fifth, sixth and seventh phase.
The company has said it also expects to complete the sale of three of the early hotels it has developed – the Mecca Conrad, Mecca Hilton and Hyatt Regency Mecca – to Alinma Investment in a 6 billion Saudi riyals (Dh5.87bn) transaction that is due to complete next month.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.

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Director:Shakun Batra

Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa

Rating: 4/5

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Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

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Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin

Director: Shawn Levy

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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.”

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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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Newcastle United 1
Joselu (11')

Tottenham Hotspur 2
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BULKWHIZ PROFILE

Date started: February 2017

Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: E-commerce 

Size: 50 employees

Funding: approximately $6m

Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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