Ask Oliver Schutzmann why investor relations (IR) is such a big deal for firms in the GCC, and you will not get a glum lecture on what might seem a dry subject. How companies communicate with their increasingly diverse base of shareholders, he says, lies as much at the centre of the region's economic fate as issues such as corporate board reform, breaking down barriers to foreign ownership and the diversification of industries away from oil.
"You not only have regulatory obligations to fulfil in terms of disclosure, but you also have shareholders who are owners of the company and want to know why they should hold, buy or sell your stock," said Mr Schutzmann, who heads up the IR department for Shuaa Capital, an investment bank in Dubai. "With the development of the market and the growing equity culture here, it has become a necessity to cater to these investors."
According to one estimate, there are only between 30 and 40 fully fledged IR departments among the hundreds of listed companies in the GCC. That figure may increase, however, if more firms cotton on to Mr Schutzmann's argument that IR is an important ingredient in the recipe for getting foreign dollars in the door and profiting from the titanic shift in fortunes from West to East that appears to be well underway. Roughly 50 per cent of global economic growth last year came from China, India and the oil exporting countries, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund - a vast change from a decade ago, when the US, Europe and Japan dominated the scene. With investors worldwide salivating over the opportunities offered in the countries driving global growth, IR is becoming all the more important.
The primary function of IR, experts say, is to avoid movements in a company's stock price based on news and rumours that are not quickly put to rest with a response. In that sense, it is a key component of a company's overarching corporate communications strategy. Secondarily, it functions as a means for raising interest among potential investors and opening up operations to public view - to show, essentially, that it has nothing to hide. Ultimately, the hope is that increasing transparency and giving large shareholders access to executives who can justify the company's strategies will raise confidence and awareness among the broad investing community. That, in turn, should lead to a more efficiently priced stock and better coverage by analysts. It can also mean companies have cheaper access to borrowed capital.
"You hear this regularly - why is our share price so low?" Mr Schutzmann says. "Why doesn't the share price respond to earnings growth, dividend yields and other news? The reason is simple - shareholders cannot evaluate what they cannot see. Unless you give them a clear picture of what is going on in the company, investors cannot make reasoned decisions about their holdings. A lack of information is something you could be punished for as a company."
The past few years are littered with examples of companies in the GCC that have seen seemingly irrational stock price declines - and rises - accompanied by a lack of communication with shareholders.
Perhaps the most glaring recent example was Emaar's ill-fated stock-for-land swap last year, sources in the GCC's IR community say. Last March, Emaar announced it had entered into a deal with Dubai Holding, an arm of the Dubai Government, to exchange convertible shares in the company for a massive grant of land. But it took weeks before making any further announcements, leading to speculation and confusion in the markets. One frustrated broker in Dubai was quoted at the time as saying "the lack of information on Emaar's land deal with Dubai Holding" was what was sending the stock's price haywire. The deal was then scrapped later in the year.
The performance of Emaar's shares since then has been poor, in spite of the fact that it has been the UAE's most successful developer, putting its name to signature projects such as the Burj Dubai, the Dubai Marina and Arabian Ranches. From January to its low in July, its stock price tumbled roughly 36 per cent, to Dh10 (US$2.72) per share. During the same stretch, other property firms with shorter track records have done better. Shares in the Abu Dhabi developer, Aldar, for example, lost a modest four per cent for the period.
While it is impossible to link stock performance definitively to anything but the fluctuations of a skittish market, last year's confusion over the failed Dubai Holding deal led, in part, to Emaar putting a greater emphasis on communications. Last October, the company beefed up its investor relations website and created a new service that automatically sends company news to shareholders.
"Emaar is committed to lead the region in corporate work ethos including transparency, timely dissemination of information, corporate governance and other investor relations best practices," says Arif Amiri, the head of IR at Emaar. "On a continued basis, Emaar reviews the ways to improve shareholder access to information, and the communication between the company and the shareholders. Emaar adheres to immediate dissemination of important information relating to the company, to the Dubai Financial Market, media and all concerned stakeholders."
The efforts have begun to pay off. Earlier this year, researchers from HSBC wrote in a report that Emaar was one of the world's "most misunderstood" companies, and that investors had unduly punished it for corporate governance and communications practices it had already drastically bettered.
"They've definitely improved their corporate communications," says Majed Azzam, one of the HSBC analysts who wrote the report.
What happened with Emaar exemplifies the way in which corporate IR is evolving in the GCC, industry experts say. As experience shows that IR plays a crucial role - especially for companies that, like Emaar, have a global reach and actively seek out foreign investors, who are used to solid communications arms - more firms are likely to spend more money on getting the word out.
"There have been a number of pressures, both global and regional, that have come together in the last few years," says Michael Chojnacki, a banker at The Bank of New York Mellon, which has offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. "With the markets as they are, institutional investors are looking ever deeper for opportunities, and the Middle East has certainly benefited from this trend.
"Many of those investors have specific expectations when investing in companies. For example, they want access to critical information in a timely fashion and to have clear lines of communication into senior management. More and more companies in the Middle East are recognising this reality."
Just this month, Mr Chojnacki teamed up with a former colleague at Thompson Reuters to form the Middle East Investor Relations Society, a non-profit group that is to promote the practice in the region. They signed up the likes of Mr Amiri and officials at the telecoms company, du, the energy company, Taqa, and the interior construction firm, Depa, to sit on its board. While the exact plans of the society have yet to be formulated, lectures, seminars, awards and surveys are in the works.
"The ultimate objective of investment relations is to ensure a fair valuation of the company is reflected in its price," Mr Chojnacki says. "Investors want to see past the distorting effect of rumours and speculation around a stock, and the best way to achieve that is to put in place an internal mechanism - investor relations - that acts as a 'face' for the company and tells its story to the outside world in a clear, concise and engaging fashion."
So will IR spread like wildfire across the Middle East?
"There's a lot of change going on in this market with the arrival of the international investment community," Mr Schutzmann says. "They have a whole different set of requirements, and companies will be forced to meet them if they want that capital. Every company in the UAE is in growth mode, and if you want to grow beyond the country's borders, you're going to need capital."
@Email:afitch@thenational.ae
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Info
What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship
When: December 27-29, 2018
Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 2 (Mahrez 04', Ake 84')
Leicester City 5 (Vardy 37' pen, 54', 58' pen, Maddison 77', Tielemans 88' pen)
Man of the match: Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
WTL%20SCHEDULE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
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.”
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Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
Company%20Profile
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
The Book of Collateral Damage
Sinan Antoon
(Yale University Press)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday Athletic Bilbao v Celta Vigo (Kick-off midnight UAE)
Saturday Levante v Getafe (5pm), Sevilla v Real Madrid (7.15pm), Atletico Madrid v Real Valladolid (9.30pm), Cadiz v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday Granada v Huesca (5pm), Osasuna v Real Betis (7.15pm), Villarreal v Elche (9.30pm), Alaves v Real Sociedad (midnight)
Monday Eibar v Valencia (midnight)
