Dr Sultan Al Jaber named 2025 ICIS CEO of the Year

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, was named the Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS) 2025 CEO of the Year on Tuesday for outstanding achievement.

ICIS said Dr Al Jaber, who is also Adnoc's managing director and group chief executive, and serves on XRG's board, has been a driving force behind the global energy landscape's transformation. The company also said he has led solutions to meet the increasing energy demands of artificial intelligence.

“I am deeply honoured to receive the ICIS CEO of the Year Award and sincerely thank my peers for their recognition of the efforts of the UAE and all my colleagues at Adnoc and XRG to help meet the world’s growing demand for energy and chemicals,” Dr Al Jaber said in a statement. “ICIS continues to provide trusted insight and analysis on which our industry relies to make informed business decisions.”

The winner of the annual CEO of the Year Award is selected by their peers based on a vote among chief executives who make up the ICIS Top 40 Power Players in the chemical industry.

Adnoc has made several high-profile moves in the industry this year, including an $18.7 billion bid for Australia's Santos – through its energy investment arm XRG – that was made in partnership with the Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ and private equity titan Carlyle. The offer comes as the Abu Dhabi company seeks to boost its production of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

XRG previously said it aims to have a gas and LNG business with capacity between 20 million and 25 million tonnes per annum by 2035.

Dr Al Jaber also announced in May that the UAE aims to boost the value of its investments in the US energy sector to $440 billion by 2035, up from its current level of $70 billion. The announcement, which came during President Donald Trump's visit to the Emirates, is part of a broader UAE $1.4 trillion technology investment framework that the White House had announced in March.

“We are delighted to announce this award to the UAE’s Dr Sultan Al Jaber based on recognition from peers of transformational moves in the global chemical industry in building significant downstream capabilities from the company’s core strength in crude oil and gas. These include the launch of XRG, Adnoc’s international investment arm, which has an ambition to create a top three global chemicals platform,” said Dean Curtis, chief executive of ICIS.

ICIS said its article featuring an interview with Dr Al Jaber will be published in a future issue of ICIS Chemical Business.

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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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