Today, Dubai Holding has assets worth Dh130 billion sprawled across more than a dozen countries, but when the company was established in October 2004, it operated from "rented offices with used furniture" and what its former chairman described as "a small loan".
“When we first started, we were faced with a challenging situation, as we only had one remote piece of land in Dubai and only a Dh200 million loan. Today the Group’s assets exceed Dh100 billion across different sectors," Mohammad Abdulla AlGergawi said in a 2017 statement as he stepped down from his post as chairman of Dubai Holding.
The beginnings of Dubai Holding are strongly interlinked with the emirate's strategies in positioning itself as a global business and tourism hub. Its foundation marked a new chapter in Dubai's economy and penchant for landmark projects.
The conglomerate is active in several sectors, including hospitality, real estate, asset management, entertainment and investments. It is the personal corporate portfolio of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, with Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed as its current chairman.
Dubai Holding is behind many of the emirate's key properties. Among the first projects it launched was Madinat Jumeirah, which opened in 2004. The five-star resort was designed to be reminiscent of an Arabian village. It features a handful of hotels and dozens of restaurants at its sprawling beachfront location. It is also a recurring venue of the annual Art Dubai festival.
The resort was, in many ways, a statement by Dubai Holding of its intent to contribute to the city’s development as a business and tourism destination. In the two years that followed, the organisation launched Dubai Studio City, Dubai International Academic City, du and Emirates International Telecommunications (EIT), which invests in telecom companies across the world.
Dubai Holding also took under its wing several existing projects, including Dubai Media City and Dubai Internet City, both of which were vital in developing the emirate's media sector.
"Dubai evolved from a city that had one television station to an international media centre, attracting more than 2000 media organisations and 33,000 experts in the field of media, working and living in Dubai Media City and transforming Dubai to the capital of content creation in the region," Mr AlGergawi said in 2017.
The Tecom Group, which was a subsidiary of Dubai Holding, was established in 2005 to manage existing business districts and develop new ones with the government of Dubai. Tecom is also behind Dubai Design District and Dubai Industrial City. Although Tecom went public in 2022, Dubai Holding remains a stakeholder.
The business districts in the emirate became blueprints for several international developments under the Dubai Holding umbrella, including SmartCity Kochi in India and SmartCity Malta.
Investments and joint ventures under the Dubai Holding portfolio include Dubai Hills Estate, du, Rove Hotels, and Dubai Waste Management Centre.
Projects under Meraas Holding and Merex Investment (a joint venture with Brookfield Asset Management) are also partly under the Dubai Holding umbrella. These include City Walk, La Mer, and Bluewaters Island.
Dubai Holding also has the brands under Jumeirah Hotels group, such as Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Hatta Wadi Hub, as well as hotels abroad, including Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel and Jumeirah Guangzhou.
Dubai Holding has several well-known developments under its entertainment division. Global Village, Ain Dubai, Dubai Parks and Resorts, Roxy Cinemas and Wild Wadi are all within the conglomerate, along with radio stations, including Dubai 92, Dubai Eye and Virgin Radio.
At the time of Mr AlGergawi's departure from Dubai Holding, Sheikh Mohammed expressed his appreciation of the former chairman's efforts in boosting Dubai Holding, saying: “Dubai Holding added real value to our national economy."
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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.”
At Eternity’s Gate
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaacs, Mads Mikkelsen
Three stars
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
