Big Alliance in the Gulf
Dubai-based bank Emirates NBD and America’s leading asset manager Blackrock are joining forces to develop a new platform for alternative private investments. The move is no coincidence.
Written by Gérard Al-Fil, Dubai
A photograph went across the globe. The message of the meeting between the head of several Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds, Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed (also known as TBZ), and US President Donald Trump at the White House last week was clear: the United Arab Emirates (UAE) remains loyal to its closest ally in the West.
The number two bank in the UAE, Emirates NBD, has now joined the «America First» chorus. ENBD, as the universal bank is also known in the Gulf, announced in a press release that it would be developing a new platform for high-net-worth private clients together with Blackrock, providing access to unlisted investments such as private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds.
International Focus
«The private markets offerings are based on Blackrock's alternative investment platform, which now has over $450 billion in assets under management and is supported by over 1,000 employees in more than 50 countries,» the two financial institutions said in their statement.
All domestic banks in the UAE – except Dubai's Mashreq Bank – are partially state-owned or have an Emirati sovereign wealth fund as a top shareholder in their boardroom. For example, Dubai's sovereign wealth fund, the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) , is the largest shareholder in Emirates NBD with a 41 percent stake, whose financial stocks are also publicly traded on the local DFM stock exchange.
Sheikh Tahnun, a brother of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed (MBZ), oversees the sovereign wealth funds ADIA and ADQ (together worth approximately $1.5 trillion) in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. Nine-tenths of the Emirati oil is stored there. In Dubai, the few oil fields contribute only three percent to economic output.
