How To Meet The $1.5 Trillionaire Man In The United Arab Emirates
In the Middle East, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi is highly sought-after. Even a 10-minute meet-and-greet is highly desired by money managers and financiers who are traveling to the United Arab Emirates from Hong Kong, London, or New York.
He enjoys playing chess while watching the sun set over the Persian Gulf from the deck of his superyacht, Maryah, which is reserved for a select few fortunate visitors. The scion of the wealthiest family in the world, slender and athletic in his signature shades, manages public and private funds totaling over $1.5 trillion. If even a small portion of that money could be invested, the potential returns and fees may be enormous.
The tricky part is getting to Sheikh Tahnoon. An effective introduction may be made anywhere on the globe where there are significant rewards to be won. The catchphrase in vintage Chicago ward politics was “We don’t want nobody sent.” The Stanford University admissions committee and venture capital incubator cliques are the gateways to fortune in Silicon Valley. However, everything is more intimate because of the UAE’s concentration of governmental and economic power.
who is in his mid-50s, is not only the family’s wealthiest member but also one of the Abu Dhabi emirate’s deputy rulers, the president of the United Arab Emirates’ brother, and the son of the nation’s founding father. In addition, he advises on national security. Put differently, this isn’t the kind of person you contact to make an appointment at the front desk.
Al Maryah Island is on a well-traveled route that leads to Sheikh Tahnoon and the wealth under his control. Abu Dhabi’s worldwide financial hub is housed in this complex of skyscrapers. Sheikh Tahnoon conceptualized the idea two decades ago, with assistance from the late US real estate mogul Sam Zell. Financiers may be referred to one of the firms chaired by the sheikh after their meeting with bankers in the foyer of the Four Seasons hotel: First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, the biggest lender in the UAE; Royal Group, his private investment firm; or G42, an artificial intelligence startup.
Should everything go according to plan, you will get the opportunity to meet one of Sheikh Tahnoon’s gatekeepers—those who have gained his confidence and choose which outsiders to welcome into the flock. It’s not only an issue of knowing the proper people; you also need to know the individuals who will even give you the names of the correct people, since some are not included on any organizational chart. In quiet conversations in cafés in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, bankers, attorneys, and consultants exchange these names.
A banker seeks to establish a rapport with the gatekeeper, who can facilitate agreements and prevent rivals from learning the easiest way to reach the royal family.
Chief executive officer Reza Bundy of Atlas Capital Team Inc., which assists funds in navigating geopolitical shocks, describes it as “a very weird social dance.” He had a meeting with wealth funds in Abu Dhabi to talk about possible collaborations.
“The concept is not as essential as the gatekeeper. People will take offense if you enter with a fantastic concept but choose a poor gatekeeper.”
Zell learned early on how important it is to have the appropriate relationships. It was during the start of the contemporary gatekeeper period in the UAE that he was introduced to the royal family.
Zell said in a 2022 interview that Sheikh Tahnoon’s younger brother, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also known as ABZ, was in New York in 2005. The two men set up a meeting because his affordable housing initiatives in Mexico had caught the attention of the royal family. Because of their mutual attraction, ABZ—who would be appointed UAE minister of international affairs the following year—suggested that Zell take a plane to the Arabian Desert for a visit.
Among their mother’s six full brothers, known as the Bani Fatima, or sons of Fatima, Sheikh Tahnoon was the only one at the time without an official position in the government. The sheikh inherited substantial landholdings after the recent death of his father. He also gave his Royal Group a substantial financial boost.
The Bani Fatima would get together in the evenings in one of the Al Nahyan palaces to exchange notes on the people they had met, the things they had discovered, and how to incorporate those details into their plans. Sheikh Tahnoon, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is now a vice president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also known as MBZ, the oldest brother, and ABZ were all members of the group. MBZ has been president since May 2022. Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE’s senior diplomat in Washington, and Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the son of a diplomat trained to be a finance czar, were among the family’s informal advisors and brain trust members who would be in attendance.
When Zell and MBZ rode motorbikes around the streets of Abu Dhabi at midnight, according to Zell, it broke the ice with the Al Nahyans. (The New Yorker published an article on him in 2007 that included details of his trip to Abu Dhabi.) Later on, Sheikh Tahnoon went to Zell for advice on commercial matters. The sheikh’s original development proposal was completely destroyed by the billionaire. The royal family of Abu Dhabi valued Zell’s candor, which helped them develop a bond. In his home city of Chicago, Zell took Sheikh Tahnoon to lunch. Later, on a hunting trip to Morocco with Sheikh Tahnoon and MBZ, Zell handled a pistol for the first time. As Zell’s bond with Sheikh Tahnoon grew, he collaborated extensively with Sofia Abdellatif Lasky, a Moroccan who had studied in the UK. She served as the primary point of contact for arranging appointments with the sheikh.
Lasky has grown to become a significant but discreet force in UAE finance in the almost two decades that have passed. She oversees the daily operations of the approximately $300 billion Royal Group from her ninth-floor office, which has a view of Khalifa Park in Abu Dhabi. Private jet passengers arrive at Al Bateen Executive Airport, which is located across the street from the group’s modest blue headquarters. Initially, the group ran its operations out of an inconspicuous property located on a peaceful lane. Some who met with the organization at the time said that bankers would be given pieces of paper with the address on them.
Although Lasky’s name is absent from the company’s website, those acquainted with the venture claim that she serves on the boards of several Royal Group companies and functions as the de facto CEO. Under her direction, the market valuation of two of the most prominent ones, International Holding Co. and Alpha Dhabi Holding PJSC, has skyrocketed to $280 billion.
The Royal Group is home to hundreds of businesses, including fast-food restaurants, pharmacies, dentist offices, residences, hotels, schools, shopping centers, gyms, beach clubs, motorbike shops, manufacturers, and telecom companies. These assets may be found all across Abu Dhabi. Over 25,000 individuals are employed by the main company, while an additional 155,000 work at its IHC affiliate. Al Rabeeh Academy employs teachers, Cine Royal Cinemas LLC employs movie theater staff, and Ninar Restaurant & Cafeteria LLC employs cooks.
With the expansion of the Al Nahyan family’s financial empire, the intermediary network has also expanded. With over 6% of the world’s known oil reserves located there, Abu Dhabi has established itself as the “capital of capital,” holding approximately $1.1 trillion between the two sovereign wealth funds under Sheikh Tahnoon’s authority, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and ADQ. Even though the lineups are becoming longer, the Bani Fatima occupy dozens of government positions, giving them little opportunity to meet visiting CEOs. As US ambassador to the UAE from 2001 to 2004, Marcelle Wahba said, “They have a lot of choices these days.” “Now the Wall Street crowd is also competing with financiers from China, India and elsewhere.”
For many people hoping to see Sheikh Tahnoon, the former prime minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri, is now their first stop. Those who make it past the ex-premier’s sniff test—typically while sipping Argentine mate—may be introduced to Lasky for a last round of screening.
Meetings are often held at Hariri’s primary house in Abu Dhabi, the presidential suite of the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, where magnificent Gulf coast gazelles play outside the window. (The five-star hotel is owned by Abu Dhabi United Hospitality LLC, an IHC entity.) After many problems interrupted his government, Hariri established himself as base in the UAE capital early in 2022. Although he is also a citizen of Saudi Arabia, his relationship with that nation deteriorated following an incident in late 2017 when he abruptly announced his retirement on television from Riyadh amid accusations from Lebanese authorities that the kingdom was keeping him captive. After his political career ended and his family’s riches was in disarray (Hariri is descended from the most powerful political family in Lebanon), he looked to Abu Dhabi for a chance to start again. “This is a place to invest today with the tools and ideas of tomorrow,” he continues.
The Abu Dhabi royals also have Bill Murray, a former British diplomat with postings in Amman, Muscat, and Tunis, as an advisor. According to those with knowledge of the matter, Murray and Sheikh Tahnoon became close when the British national was sent as a political advisor in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. He was recently involved in the founding of Tau Capital, a venture capital company supported by Sheikh Tahnoon that focuses on deep tech startups—those that propel fundamental scientific discoveries.
Everywhere in the globe where the Emiratis could wish to invest has powerful people. Based on data provided by Bloomberg, billionaire Gautam Adani, the fourteenth richest person in the world, has had agreements with billionaire Ajay Bhatia, CEO of Sirius International Holding, a subsidiary of IHC, acting as a major middleman.
Former Miss Globe Colombia Melissa Moncada, who began a number of fitness endeavors before establishing a holding business supported by the Royal Group, has established herself as a reliable fixer on Latin American transactions, having completed an investment with Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski. Mohammed Nasser Al Shamsi, a board member of IHC, has been a crucial advisor to the sheikh about mining transactions in Africa. Requests for responses from Murray, Bhatia, and Al Shamsi were not answered; Moncada refused to comment.
Years of connections are frequently the foundation of deals. One such example is Rajeev Misra, who raised billions of dollars for his One Investment Management and, more recently, SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund by using his extensive Middle Eastern network. The financier, who was born in India and has support from Mubadala Investment Co. and Royal Group, the UAE sovereign wealth fund, claims to collaborate closely with Lasky and other members of Sheikh Tahnoon’s inner circle.
Peng Xiao, the CEO of G42, and Syed Basar Shueb, the CEO of IHC, are also members of the inner circle. The UAE wants to restructure its oil-dependent economy around finance and technology, and IHC and G42 are key components of this vision. IHC has emerged from obscurity to become the most valuable listed corporation in the nation in a few years. It invested $2 billion in three businesses held by Mr. Adani two years ago. The tech-focused Multiply Group, one of its listed companies, has started participating in the newest wave of initial public offerings in the area.
G42 has also emerged from obscurity to rank among the most well-known AI companies worldwide. The Emirati Genome Programme is one of its major programs; its goal is to map the health data of the local population in order to prevent and cure chronic diseases. According to those who are aware of the sheikh’s thought process, the drive aligns with his own interest in longevity medicine, which includes his goal of living for at least 150 years.
The bigger picture is to make Abu Dhabi, dubbed Little Sparta, a formidable force in geopolitics and economics, able to punch beyond its weight. This goal prompted Sheikh Tahnoon’s businesses to explore acquisitions of Standard Chartered Plc and Lazard Ltd. in the previous year. It’s led to collaborations with businesspeople like Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and encouraged a number of billionaires to open offices in the United Arab Emirates. Among those on that list are Russian steel magnate Vladimir Lisin; Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, a hedge fund; and Changpeng Zhao, the creator of a cryptocurrency exchange who has entered a guilty plea to US anti-money laundering charges. Finance companies pledged to open offices in Abu Dhabi’s international financial hub last year, with a total value of about $450 billion.
Deals may be seen from the perspective of national security in the UAE and how it relates to the economy. The small nation extends its soft power globally with investments in everything from Zambian copper mines and Indian solar projects to US tech and Chinese artificial intelligence companies.
Political ties may also emerge from business relationships. Rick Gerson, a longtime business associate of MBZ, is a venture capital executive who serves on the board of IHC’s Multiply. Gerson introduced former US President Donald Trump to the royal family of Abu Dhabi and is friendly with his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. That cleared the path for Trump and the UAE to have a cordial relationship. The president-elect, Kushner, MBZ, Sheikh Tahnoon, aides Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn, and MBZ met at the Four Seasons in New York a month after his unexpected victory in the 2016 election. Later, the sheikh played a key role in the UAE’s efforts to restore diplomatic relations with Iran and Qatar, as well as its efforts to repair relations with Israel. “He wants all the countries in the region to work together,” adds Kushner.
Kushner’s work as an investment manager during his White House tenure has been strongly associated with the Middle East. According to persons familiar with the situation who requested not to be identified because the information is confidential, His Affinity Partners has received investments totaling $2 billion from the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia and from sovereign wealth funds in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Using his position as a major capital allocator, Sheikh Tahnoon has gotten market knowledge from Wall Street banks and the biggest money managers in the world, which he uses to inform his own investing strategy. However, aspirational businessmen traveling to Abu Dhabi may wish to bring an exercise outfit in addition to their laptop.
These days, on one of the city’s cycling paths, Sheikh Tahnoon will sometimes invite visiting investors for an aggressive road bike ride. The prince is also a Brazilian jujitsu black belt. When he trained for a while in San Diego under the guidance of Brazilian coach Nelson Monteiro in his late 20s, his passion for the sport blossomed. Then, he hired Monteiro to work as his personal trainer in the United Arab Emirates. They would go on to open fighting gyms all throughout the nation; many of them are now under the management of Royal Group and are well-known for being social gathering spots for bankers and the sheikh’s entourage.
Former banker Vinay Kapoor, who has spent thirty years working in the United Arab Emirates, argues that “informal meetings provide a conducive environment for building trust and rapport with the Abu Dhabi royals.” “Sheikh Tahnoon values authenticity and genuine connections.”
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Of course, landing a casual introduction isn’t always informal, as anybody involved in fundraising knows.
