Good news for frequent flyers: the New York private equity firm Warburg Pincus has acquired Mercator, a Dubai information technology company that helps airlines track your luggage, from Dnata, part of the Emirates Group.
Warburg Pincus was attracted to Mercator’s “strong client base, product offering, people and growth potential”, according to a spokeswoman.
Warburg Pincus did not disclose the value of the acquisition, or Mercator’s revenues. However, Dnata earned Dh755 million from IT services in 2012.
Joseph Schull, Warburg Pincus’s European chief, told Bloomberg News: “This business can be a multiple of its current size.”
Mercator also sells software to help airlines to develop their own loyalty programmes, handle revenues and cope with “safety incidents”. It employs about 400 people in Dubai and lists more than 125 airlines as its clients.
Warburg Pincus said that it would like Mercator to launch further products in shipping and safety, and said that “an international expansion is certainly on the horizon”.
The company also suggested that it would seek to acquire new firms to merge with Mercator, but declined to offer specifics.
It will be Warburg Pincus’s first Middle East investment. The company manages more than US$37 billion in assets and recently added the former US Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner to its management team.
Warburg Pincus previously invested in and, in 2006, floated a similar airline tech company, WNS Global Services, after acquiring it from British Airways. The company told Bloomberg that it sold WNS for a “multiple” of its purchase price.
David Tibble, the former executive chairman of WNS, will take over the same role at Mercator.
Dnata will retain a minority stake in Mercator.
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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
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- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
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- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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