Adding new assets to the Emirates Investment Authority will invigorate the role of an institution that manages the sovereign assets of the UAE’s Federal government.
It has been instructed "to prepare a new government investment strategy for the next stage", Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said as he announced that four significant entities were being attached to it; the national postal service Emirates Post, the Emirates General Transportation and Services Corporation, the Federal Electricity and Water Authority and the Emirates Real Estate Corporation. The EIA has held custody of, and managed Emirates Post and Emirates Transport on behalf of the government since 2013, according to its website. The Emirates Investment Authority did not clarify when contacted by The National if the decision meant that this status had now changed.
The Authority will also now manage a new National Social Security Fund, which will be supervised by Obaid Al Tayer, who is Minister of State for Financial Affairs and already chairs an executive committee overseeing the Emirates Investment Authority.
Mr Al Tayer also sits on the Authority’s main board, which is chaired by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, with Minister of Cabinet Affairs and The Future, Mohammed Al Gergawi, as deputy chairman.
The Authority has two main activities – asset management and strategic assets.
The asset management arm has a remit to invest in a full range of global assets including equities, fixed income, hedge funds, private equity and real estate, among others.
Like other sovereign funds, the Emirates Investment Authority can take a long term view and usually takes investment decisions based on a 7-10 year investment horizon, according to an inaugural report produced by the authority in 2017.
The strategic assets arm, meanwhile, controls its substantial investments in a range of businesses.
Emirates Post Group, for instance, houses the UAE’s national postal service delivering to more than 200 countries, as well as the Wall Street Exchange Centre foreign exchange business.
Emirates Transport is best known for providing fleets of school buses, but diversified into a range of other activities including fuel transportation and general logistics deliveries. By the end of last year, it had a fleet of about 40,000 vehicles and employed 30,000 people.
The Federal Electricity and Water Authority owns all of the water and electricity generation, transmission and distribution assets in the Northern Emirates of Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah.
The Emirates Real Estate Corporation, meanwhile, develops, owns and manages government buildings. Its portfolio includes the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation buildings in Dubai as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Abu Dhabi. Internationally, it has built UAE Embassies in Germany, Canada and Turkmenistan.
All of these assets now form part of a federal sovereign fund whose role, according to its 2017 report, is as a “long-term manager of intergenerational equity”.
Globally, there is a trend by sovereign wealth funds to invest more in their domestic economies, either through collating state-owned stakes, investing fund surpluses, annual budget distributions or as incentives to attract further foreign investment, the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds said in a report last month.
In 2019, 21 per cent of sovereign funds' private equity investments were in their home markets, up from just 10 per cent in 2015, it said.
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2015%20PRO%20MAX
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
QUARTER-FINAL
Wales 20-19 France
Wales: T: Wainwright, Moriarty. Cons: Biggar (2) Pens: Biggar 2
France: T: Vahaamahina, Ollivon, Vakatawa Cons: Ntamack (2)
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
The biog
Name: Timothy Husband
Nationality: New Zealand
Education: Degree in zoology at The University of Sydney
Favourite book: Lemurs of Madagascar by Russell A Mittermeier
Favourite music: Billy Joel
Weekends and holidays: Talking about animals or visiting his farm in Australia
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
The biog
Place of birth: Kalba
Family: Mother of eight children and has 10 grandchildren
Favourite traditional dish: Al Harees, a slow cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled cracked or coarsely ground wheat mixed with meat or chicken
Favourite book: My early life by Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah
Favourite quote: By Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father, “Those who have no past will have no present or future.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
