Arabian Gulf investors have always been keen on what the financial professionals describe as "trophy assets", but with mixed results.
By definition, a trophy is something you try hard to win, then lock away in a cabinet for years, perhaps taking it out now and again to polish it down and examine with pride.
A trophy asset is a bit like that, although it comes with the proviso that because it was bought for good hard cash, it will at some stage have to justify its place in the cabinet by making some kind of financial return for its owners.
And what some regard as a trophy, others may not think worth the trouble, or the money, to acquire.
Take three recent examples of trophy assets bought by regional investors. Two years ago, Qatar's foreign investment unit bought Harrods, the posh London department store, for US$1.5 billion (Dh5.51bn).
At the time, there was much speculation that the Qataris had paid a premium price for a premium asset, but Harrods has since been doing great business, and looks likely to break all records this coming Olympic summer in London.
So that's a trophy asset that ticks all the boxes: the new owners can take pride in ownership and happily count the returns.
QE2, the luxury liner owned by Dubai World, is a different example. Bought by the conglomerate at the height of the boom in 2007, it undoubtedly had all the trophy elements - glitz, glamour, a sophisticated history and associations. But even back then, the business case for buying the ship was more difficult to argue.
There were plans to transform it into a floating luxury hotel, but these foundered during the financial crisis, and the ship is still moored at Dubai's Port Rashid, awaiting a strategy to justify the reported $100 million price tag.
Manchester City Football Club is another trophy. Bought by Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour bin Zayedin 2008, the club has absorbed an estimated $1bn, but came good last month when it won the English Premier League.
So City is a trophy asset with a valuable trophy, but only time will tell whether the financial return will justify the outlay.
These examples will be firmly in the minds of regional investors pondering the case of another trophy asset that has come on the market: the 30-strong chain of top-notch restaurants (and one hotel) currently being hawked around by the investment bank Rothschild.
The chain is the creation on Sir Terence Conran, one of Britain's best-known entrepreneurs, who did much to define United Kingdom "style" in the 1980s and later. Anyone who has had a long lunch at the Pont de la Tour, beneath the shadow of Tower Bridge in London, will testify to the allure of Sir Terence's establishments.
He is selling because, at 80 years old, he wants to ensure the future of the chain with new investors capable of taking it to a new level of development. It is currently owned by Sir Terence, some private equity interests, and its own management.
It has attracted strong interest from potential investors in Qatar (it would sit nicely in the cabinet alongside Harrods) as well as others from East Asia, where it already has some upper-crust restaurants. Trade investors, as well as trophy-seekers, are eyeing a possible deal.
The price tag is reportedly in the £70m (Dh397.8m) to £100m range, which at a potential £3m per eaterie looks expensive. But the accounts show turnover of more than £70m last year and profit of £7m plus, so perhaps that valuation can be justified on the financials alone, without taking into account future earnings from new openings (possibly in the UAE) and the potential of a string of "concept" hotels also on the drawing board.
Gulf investors considering the deal will no doubt be attracted by the prospect of jetting from New York to Tokyo, via London, Paris and Copenhagen, while enjoying fine dining on their own property all the way.
After all, if you cannot enjoy your trophy, what's the point?
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922 – 1923
Editor Ze’ev Rosenkranz
Princeton
AUSTRALIA SQUAD v SOUTH AFRICA
Aaron Finch (capt), Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa
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Brief scores:
Day 2
England: 277 & 19-0
West Indies: 154
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
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The fake news generation
288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year
11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general
31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate
63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
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The finalists
Player of the Century, 2001-2020: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Ronaldinho
Coach of the Century, 2001-2020: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Jose Mourinho (Tottenham Hotspur), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Sir Alex Ferguson
Club of the Century, 2001-2020: Al Ahly (Egypt), Bayern Munich (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Real Madrid (Spain)
Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Club of the Year: Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Real Madrid
Coach of the Year: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta), Hans-Dieter Flick (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Agent of the Century, 2001-2020: Giovanni Branchini, Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola
EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
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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
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CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
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