Examples of Middle East investments

Arab Investments hot on the heels of their £27 million sale of the 45 year leasehold interest at 15 Suffolk Street, London, SW1 to Hines Pan European Fund, has purchased the freehold of 10-14, Stratton Street, London, W1 in a deal valued at £48.5 million.

Arab Investments wins Coffee Republic deal. Arab Investments has completed a deal to take Coffee Republic out of administration. The property investment company reached an agreement with administrators KPMG to take on the 80 remaining outlets, including 60 in the UK. The size of the deal has not been revealed but talks have been ongoing for the past two weeks.

Scotland is no stranger to investors from the Middle East. In May 2008 Leisurecorp, the Dubai World subsidiary which specialises in developments and investments in the sports and leisure sector purchased one of Scotland's oldest golf courses, Turnberry. The purchase price was around US$110mn and completed towards the end of 2008. Leisurecorp believe that Turnberry has "vast potential" and they plan on closing the course for redevelopment prior to hosting The Open later this year.
Over eight universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, have accepted more than £233.5 million from Middle East millionaires since 1995

Jumeriah Group. The company owns and operates four hotels in Europe with the intention of making the fifth a six star hotel in the Scottish city of Glasgow. The 26-storey development will be in the city centre with 160 guest rooms and 85 serviced apartments.

The mutual attraction between corporate Scotland and Middle Eastern investors can be demonstrated by the willingness of Scottish businesses and the public sector to consider, develop and implement Sharia-compliant arrangements. At the beginning of 2008, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) funded two deals in Scotland that were compliant with Sharia Law. The first was the acquisition of Motherwell Bridge to Kuwait Finance House and the second was the acquisition of Downhole Products by Varel International Energy Services. Such is the interest in Islamic Finance (and in keeping with Scotland's progressive and innovative approach to banking) bodies such as the Islamic Finance Council UK (IFC) have been established to promote the industry. All of this demonstrates Scotland's commitment towards cementing its role as an international financial centre. The Scottish government has even been linked to investigating the issue of Islamic bonds to fund infrastructure projects. The professional services sector in Scotland has also received a boost as a result of this activity with a range of advisers finding new markets both at home and in the Middle East. This has led businesses such as HBJ Gateley Wareing to becoming the first Scottish law firm to set up an office in Dubai. We should expect to see more Scottish firms to follow.

City & Country Hotels will operate a new boutique hotel in central London owned by Arab Investments. The 45-bedroom Ten Manchester Street hotel, which has been designed by architects The Frederick Gibberd Partnership, will offer guests a lounge bar and an outdoor smoking cigar lounge with terrace.

Doha: European banks are the new target for Arab investments. The rich Gulf country has declared itself in favour of investing in Europe. The figures add up to around 15 billion dollars. Doha (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The prime minister of Qatar has made public his country's intentions to concentrate its investments in the Old Continent, leaving the United States high and dry. An increasing number of Gulf countries are looking to Europe: the U.S. financial market is still seen as untrustworthy following the subprime mortgage crisis, while record oil prices have been filling the coffers of oil-producing countries.

Currently, Qatar's sovereign wealth fund stands at about 60 billion dollars. Partly in order to diversify the country's economy, based on oil and natural gas, the sheikhs intend to invest in the world of finance, and expect to invest between 10 and 15 billion dollars of the next two years. According to leaked information reported by the Sunday Telegraph, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is eyeing the second-largest bank of Great Britain, the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Sunday Telegraph was the first newspaper to report in January on the interest of Qatar in Credit Suisse, in which it did in fact take a 2% stake. Shares in the Swiss bank - like those of the Royal Bank of Scotland - have been sharply lower recently. Arab investments in European finance have puzzled EU leaders, who look suspiciously upon sovereign wealth funds, seen as dangerous geopolitical strategies whose sole purpose is profit. The European Commission reserves the right to legislate in the future if the necessary transparency is lacking in this area.
Liverpool in talks over £125m investment from Arab prince

Liverpool co-owner George Gillett was in talks on Saturday night about selling a 25 per cent stake in the Anfield club to an Arab prince in a deal worth £125million. Mirror Sport understands that Gillett has met with Prince Khalid al-Faisal and members of of the Saudi royal family about investment opportunities at Liverpool. Discussions initially began about various commercial projects but quickly progressed into talks aimed at bringing the prince in as a co-owner to work alongside Gillett and his fellow American Tom Hicks. Any share deal would require the blessing of Hicks before it could be rubber-stamped. And although Hicks is yet to meet personally with Prince Khalid, it is understood that the Texan is ready to welcome a new partner if the terms of the deal are right

Arab Investments have completed the purchase of the site of the proposed Bishopsgate Tower in the City of London, and now intend to build the 288m tall scheme. The £200m sale was confirmed yesterday. Arab Investments now intend to proceed with building what will become the tallest building in London and one of the tallest in Europe.

Burnley seeking "super-sized" Arab investment
DUBAI (Reuters) - English second-tier football team Burnley are looking for an investor from the oil-rich Gulf states to develop the club and steer them to the Premier League. Majority owner and property developer Brendan Flood admitted he was seeking to bring Middle Eastern funding and players to the humble northern England team, which competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. "It's a club with super-sized ambition and we need an investor with a super-sized cheque book," Flood told Dubai-based magazine, Arabian Business. "It could help fulfil a lot for us." The move comes after the recent takeover of Manchester City by Abu Dhabi investors and media reports of interest by United Arab Emirates businessmen in Newcastle United and Liverpool. Flood said he was seeking $50 million (28 million pounds) to renovate Burnley's 126-year-old Turf Moor stadium and was also keen to take players from the Gulf on loan to boost the club's performance. Burnley are 12th in the Championship table on eight points, having won two of their six games this season. (Reporting by Martin Petty in Bangkok; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

The UAE has diversified its investment portfolio in recent years by plunging billions of dirhams into a variety of UK assets.
The investments stretch over a great swathe of sectors, from premier league football clubs to prime pieces of London real estate and from historic ships to budget hotels.
Trade between the two countries has always been very strong. Bilateral trade for the first six months of 2008 reached a massive £2.52 billion (Dh15.68 billion). Of this, UK exports to the UAE from January to July 2008 stood at £1.87 billion. UK imports from the UAE stood at £646 million. Although the UAE is awash with petrodollars, Dubai in particular generates the least income from oil and has made concerted efforts to find other sources of wealth outside its borders.
"The UK represents the most liberal investment environment in Europe and Dubai and the UAE represent the most liberal investment environment in the Middle East, so the synergies are there.

The historic relationship between the UAE and the UK is very strong and probably [has] never been stronger," said Mark Beer, chairman of the British Business Group in Dubai. Interest in purchasing stakes in prolific English football clubs has also rocketed, triggered most recently by the famous purchase of Manchester City by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008. Former Hydra Properties chief executive, Sulaiman Al Fahim is now chairman of Premier team Portsmouth FC. It was reported that Sheikh Ahmad Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, chairman of the Ras Al Khaimah Department of Customs and Seaports, has bought a 60 per cent stake in an unnamed English Premier League football club, which he later denied. Real estate has always been the apple of Dubai's eye and as such, property investment in the UK is in the billions.

International Hotel Investments (IHI) bought hotel and former government office building, The Metropole, and the adjoining 10 Whitehall Place for £130 million in 2005. The buildings will be revamped as a five-star hotel. One of IHI's principal shareholders is Istithmar, the investment arm of Dubai World.
Istithmar itself bought One, Trafalgar Place, also known as Grand Buildings, in a deal thought to be worth around Â£155 million in 2005. Dubai International Capital (DIC), controlled by His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, bought the budget hotel chain Travelodge in a Â£675 million deal in 2006. Travelodge operates 291 hotels in the UK, Ireland and Spain.
DIC said it would invest in the chain to make it the UK's leading budget hotel operator by the 2012 Olympics.

The Adelphi, one of London's best-known art deco buildings, was purchased by Istithmar in 2006 for Â£300 million. Borse Dubai also bought a 28 per cent stake in the prestigious London Stock Exchange as part of a series of deals between Nasdaq and Borse Dubai. The UAE also spent huge chunks of money in aquatic real estate in the form of the historic QE2 and P&O. Istithmar bought the QE2 for US$100 million (Dh367 million) in 2007 to start a new life as a luxury hotel on Palm Jumeirah. However, the ship's future has changed course as she is now heading off to South Africa to host visitors to the 2010 Football World Cup. DP World already owns P&O. DIC bought Madame Tussauds in 2005 for Â£800 million. It sold it to Merlin Entertainments for Â£1 billion in 2007 but DIC kept a 20 per cent stake.

Merlin Entertainments also owns Legoland, the London Dungeon and the aquarium chain Sealife Centre. Theme park Alton Towers was included in the deal.

Dubai International Capital bought a one-third stake in the London Eye from BA for £95 million in 2006. Engineering group, Doncasters, which manufactures parts for Airbus, was taken over by Dubai International capital for £700 million in 2005. The UAE also has its fingers in the aviation pie, with a new landmark for London in July 2008 - a giant model of an Airbus A380 at the gateway to Heathrow Airport. These investments alone amount to around £2.91 billion. "By investing in markets like the UK, it leads to diversification of the portfolio here. And, historically, there is less volatility because the UK market has tended not to be volatile from an investment point of view," Beer said.
Around 45 per cent of the UK's exports to the GCC went straight to the UAE. Of this, 72 per cent went to Dubai. The UAE is in the top ten highest growth markets for the UK government and the largest Middle East market to the UK. The UAE supplies one third of total GCC exports to the UK. Dubai has the lion's share of this, at 66 per cent. This does not include soft exports, such as services and tourism. Gulf News

UAE investment fund Aabar said in July it will pay about $280 million (Dh1 billion) to buy nearly a third of commercial space travel startup Virgin Galactic. The buy-in by Aabar Investments of Abu Dhabi gives British billionaire Sir Richard Branson's space tourism venture a big financial kickstart at a time when many funding sources have dried up because of the global recession. It also provides the UAE a chance to acquire space flight capability of its own. "The initiative will leverage the solid financial backing of Aabar and the pioneering technology and strong global relationships of Virgin Galactic," Branson said in a statement.

The Supervisory Board of Porsche, the German car manufacturer, announced on July 23 that a new management team will finalize negotiations with Qatar Holding LLC (QH) on a capital investment estimated to be between 7-10 billion USD. If Porsche is integrated into its partner Volkswagen, Qatar would be the third largest shareholder in the company with 17%.

Seera, an investment firm in the Middle East, concludes $200m acquisition of BWA
Seera Investment Bank, the Shari’a compliant Bahrain-based investment bank, announced conclusion of its $200m acquisition of UK-based BWA water additives – originally announced in September; pre-turmoil.

- A group of Abu Dhabi investors, Aabar Investments, acquired AIG Private Bank
AIG doesn’t sound like a name you want to be associated with it too much, but what if you buy it and rename it? That’s what Abu Dhabi-based investment firm, Aabar Investments, is going to do after acquiring AIG Private Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the troubled AIG, for $254 million.

- KKR, the global alternative asset manager firm, entered the Middle East
KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co), the global alternative asset manager firm is entering the Middle East. They just announced that Makram Azar will be joining them as Managing Director and Head of Middle East and North Africa (“MENA”).

- Amara, a new Private equity firm in Dubai, started operation.
Amara Holdings enters the Private Equity play in the Middle East. Amara will focus on pre-IPO, private equity and private placement growth opportunities particularly in China as well as MENA and India. It is run by a newly formed company called Newhaven Investments House.

- Abraaj, one of Dubai private equity firms, acquired stake in Turkish Yacht Maker
When there is a $25b market for recreational boats and when Middle East yacht owners have increased from zero percent to 8 percent of global yacht owners, you know it is time to invest in the yacht business.

- GrowthGate acquired stake in a $100m revenue firm
GrowthGate Capital, a GCC-based Dubai venture capital buyout firm and one of Dubai investors, announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire 33.33% of Lebanon's Averda International, an integrated waste management concern with waste operations concentrated in the Middle East and North Africa.

Other Investments

	Investment size: Undisclosed Country: Germany
	Investment size: £600 million Country: UK
	Investment size: €850 million Country: Germany
	Investment size: undisclosed Country: UK
	Investment size: £675 million Country: UK
	Investment size: £700 million Country: UK
	Investment size: £800 million Country: UK
	Company: EADS N.V. Investment size: 3.12% of the outstanding share capital Country: The Netherlands Current GSEF investment
	Company: Sony Corporation Investment size: Undisclosed Country: Japan Current GSEF investment
	Company: ICICI Bank Limited Investment size: 2.87% of the outstanding share capital Country: India Current Dubai International Capital investment
	Company: KEF Holdings Investment size: Undisclosed Country: United Arab Emirates
	Company: True Group Investment size: Undisclosed Country: Singapore
	Company:Rivoli Group Investment size: Undisclosed Country: United Arab Emirates
	Company : Jordan Dubai Capital Investment Size : US$300 million Country : Jordan
	Fund: MENA Infrastructure Fund Investment size: US$500 million Country: Middle East and North A
	In October 2005, Dubai International Capital Emerging Markets became an anchor investor in Ishraq Gulf Real Estate Holding BSC (‘Ishraq’), a private company established in Bahrain, with other key regional investors in order to roll-out the “Express by Holiday Inn” brand throughout the GCC (excluding Saudi Arabia). Express by Holiday Inn is the fastest-growing budget hotel chain the world with an average of two hotels openings per week. Ishraq plans to build and manage over 22 hotels in the GCC region in the next four years. Dubai International Capital Emerging Markets is also Ishraq’s partner in Ishraq Dubai LLC. As part of Ishraq Dubai LLC, the first Express by Holiday Inn hotel has been constructed in Knowledge Village, Dubai with 244 rooms and officially opened in October 2007. Four other sites are under development in Dubai. Ishraq is also setting up operations in Bahrain and Oman, and is actively seeking development opportunities in Qatar and Kuwait. Through Dubai International Capital Emerging Markets’ strategic relationships, Ishraq has also been offered development opportunities in Jordan, as well as other countries in North Africa, which are being assessed.
	Dubai International Capital is a founding shareholder of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (‘DAE’), a conglomerate of aerospace related businesses focused primarily on aircraft leasing, manufacturing, services, airports and education. DAE is building a US$15 billion global aerospace corporation that encompasses manufacturing, services, airports and education. It is creating an innovative business that builds on Dubai’s dynamism and financial strength and forms international partnerships which allow it to grow in emerging markets around the world. The conglomerate, which was founded in February 2006, recently completed its acquisition of aviation service providers Standard Aero and Landmark Aviation from The Carlyle Group. DAE will merge the companies as a business enterprise within its DAE Engineering subsidiary. The transaction, valued at US$1.9 billion, brings together two of the world’s leading maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) providers.
	Dubai International Capital made a Joint Venture investment with CB Richard Ellis (‘CBRE’) to provide a variety of real estate services in the region. CBRE is the world’s premier, full-service real estate services company operating globally and holding a leadership position across the world’s key business centres. Its services include agency, investment, professional, consultancy, property management and development serviced to owners, investors and residents of Dubai and the broader Middle East region. CBRE has more than 400 offices around the world and employs more than 24,000 people.
	Company: Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC Investment size: 9.9% of the outstanding equity Country: USA

Investors	Bahrain 111	Kuwait 81	Oman 42
1172	Qatar 71	Saudi 170	UAE 655

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