Who is the man for whose time the richest people in the world fight

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi is one of the most wanted people in the Middle East. Financial managers and financiers flying into the UAE from Hong Kong, London or New York would give anything for even a 10-minute meeting with the sheikh.

A lucky few might even get to be guests aboard his superyacht, Maryah, where he likes to play chess while the sun shines over the Persian Gulf. The scion of the world’s richest family oversees state assets and private funds totaling more than 1.5 trillion dollars. The opportunity to invest even a fraction of this wealth could bring commissions and substantial returns, writes Bloomberg, quoted by Business Magazin.

Getting to Sheikh Tahnoon is quite the challenge. The way it is state and financial focused in the UAE makes everything more personal. The Sheikh, who is around 50 years old, is not only the money man of his family; he is one of the deputy rulers of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, a brother of the UAE president and the son of the country’s founding father. He is also a national security advisor. In other words, he’s not the kind of person you call the front desk to ask for a date.

What steps must be taken to reach it

A well-known route to Sheikh Tahnoon and the money he controls runs through the island of Al Maryah. This high-rise community is home to the international financial center of Abu Dhabi, which Sheikh Tahnoon dreamed up two decades ago under the guidance of the late American real estate magnate Sam Zell. After meeting the bankers in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel, financiers can be directed to one of the companies the sheikh presides over: the UAE’s largest lender, First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC; his private investment firm, Royal Group; or the artificial intelligence company G42.

If things go well, there is a meeting with one of Sheikh Tahnoon’s guards, people who have gained his trust and who decide which newcomers will be accepted. Some of them don’t appear on any organizational charts, so it’s not just about knowing the right people – you have to know the people who will even tell you the names of the right people. Bankers, lawyers and consultants exchange these names in hushed tones in coffee shops in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

A financier wants to build a relationship with the best gatekeeper, capable of taking business to the finish line without giving away information about competitors who have the easiest way to get to the table with the royal family.

“It’s a very strange social dance”, “The guardian is as important as the idea. If you come up with a great idea but a bad gatekeeper, people will be bothered.” says Reza Bundy, CEO of Atlas Capital Team Inc. which helps funds navigate through geopolitical shocks. He met with investment funds in Abu Dhabi to discuss potential partnerships.

Zell discovered early on the power of having the right relationships. His introduction to the royal family began at the dawn of the modern era of the UAE gatekeeper. In 2005, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the younger brother of Sheikh Tahnoon, known as ABZ, was visiting New York, Zell recounted in a 2022 interview. The royal family had been interested in his affordable housing complexes from Mexico, so the two men set up a meeting. They got along well, and ABZ, who would be appointed foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates the following year, suggested that Zell fly to the Arabian Desert to pay him a visit.

At the time, Sheikh Tahnoon was the only one of the six full brothers – known as the Bani Fatima, or sons of Fatima, after their mother – who did not hold an official government post. His father had recently passed away, which had made the Sheikh the beneficiary of significant real estate properties. His royal group also received a large capital injection.

In the evening, the Bani Fatima would meet at one of the Al Nahyan palaces to compare notes on who they had met that day, what they had learned, and how to incorporate this information into their strategy.

This group included older brother Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, known as MBZ and president since May 2022, along with Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is now vice president, Sheikh Tahnoon and ABZ. Some of the family’s informal advisers are also expected to attend: Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the son of a diplomat who was groomed as a finance czar, and Yousef Al Otaiba, currently the UAE’s top diplomat in Washington.

The rise

Zell broke the ice with Al Nahyans when he and MBZ rode motorcycles at midnight through the streets of Abu Dhabi, Zell says. Later, Sheikh Tahnoon turned to Zell for business guidance. The billionaire dismantled the sheikh’s initial idea for a development project.

The King of Abu Dhabi appreciated Zell’s honesty, which led the two to develop a friendship. Zell hosted Sheikh Tahnoon for lunch in his hometown of Chicago, and the first time he got his hands on a gun was on a subsequent hunting trip to Morocco with Sheikh Tahnoon and MBZ. As his relationship with Sheikh Tahnoon developed, Zell began working closely with a British-educated Moroccan named Sofia Abdellatif Lasky. She was the main intermediary to coordinate the meetings with the sheikh.

In the nearly two decades that have passed since then, Lasky has become a low-key but important player in UAE finance. From her ninth-floor office overlooking Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Park, she helps run the day-to-day operations of the roughly $300 billion Royal Group. The group’s unassuming blue building is down the street from Al Bateen Executive Airport, which caters to visitors arriving by private jet.

In the beginning, the team carried out its activity from an unmarked villa, located on a quiet stretch of road. Bankers were handed paper slips with the address, according to some who met with the group at the time.

Lasky’s name does not appear anywhere on the firm’s website, but people familiar with the business say she acts as Royal Group’s de facto CEO and sits on the boards of dozens of its subsidiaries. Two of the most notable, International Holding Co. and Alpha Dhabi Holding PJSC, grew to a combined market capitalization of $280 billion under her watch.

With hundreds of entities under the Royal Group umbrella, the company’s assets are present in every block of Abu Dhabi: fast food chains, pharmacies, dental clinics, apartments, hotels, schools, shopping centers, gyms, beach clubs, shops motorcycles, factories and telecommunications operators. The parent group has over 25,000 employees; its IHC unit, about 155,000 more. Teachers could work for Al Rabeeh Academy, cinema employees for Cine Royal Cinemas LLC and cooks for Ninar Restaurant & Cafeteria LLC.

As the financial empire of the Al Nahyan family grew, so did the network of intermediaries. Abu Dhabi, home to around 6% of the world’s oil reserves, has positioned itself as the “capital of capital”, with more than $1.1 trillion combined in sovereign wealth funds Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and ADQ, both controlled by the sheikh Tahnoon.

Bani Fatima holds dozens of government posts, leaving little time to meet with visiting CEOs, even as the lines grow longer.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has become a first port of call for many who want to meet Sheikh Tahnoon. Those who pass the former prime minister’s test (often over a cup of Argentinian mate) can be presented to Lasky for a final check.

Hariri often hosts meetings in the presidential suite in St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, his main residence in Abu Dhabi, Hariri made the UAE capital his home base in early 2022 after a series of crises ended his tenure as prime minister.

He also holds Saudi citizenship, but his relationship with the country soured after an episode in late 2017 in which he abruptly announced his resignation on Riyadh television as Lebanese officials accused the kingdom of holding him hostage. With his political career over and his family’s fortunes in disarray – Hariri comes from Lebanon’s most prominent political dynasty – he headed to Abu Dhabi for a chance to rebuild.

Bill Murray, a former British diplomat who had missions in Amman, Muscat and Tunis, is another adviser to the royal family in Abu Dhabi. People familiar with the situation say Murray and Sheikh Tahnoon formed a bond during the Briton’s assignment as a political adviser in the United Arab Emirates capital. He recently helped found Tau Capital, a venture capital firm backed by Sheikh Tahnoon that focuses on so-called deep tech startups, or companies driving fundamental scientific advances.

There are strong players for every region of the world where Emirates might want to invest.

Ajay Bhatia, managing director of Sirius International Holding, a subsidiary of IHC, has been a key intermediary in deals in India, including with billionaire Gautam Adani, the world’s 14th richest person.

Melissa Moncada – former Miss Globe Colombia, who founded several fitness enterprises and then a holding company backed by the Royal Group – has become a trusted intermediary in Latin American business.

Mohammed Nasser Al Shamsi, a member of the IHC board of directors, was an important adviser to the sheikh on mining affairs in Africa.

Syed Basar Shueb, the general director of IHC, and Peng Xiao, the general director of G42, are also part of this small circle.

The IHC and G42 are at the heart of the UAE’s ambitions to reshape its oil-dependent economy around finance and technology.

In just a few years, IHC went from anonymity and became the most valuable company listed on the stock exchange in the country. Two years ago, he invested 2 billion dollars in three companies owned by Adani. One of its listed subsidiaries, technology-focused Multiply Group, has become active in the region’s latest flurry of IPOs.

The main objective is to transform Abu Dhabi into a global competitor in the financial and geopolitical field

That ambition led Sheikh Tahnoon’s companies to consider takeover bids for Standard Chartered Plc and Lazard Ltd. last year. It has led to partnerships with entrepreneurs such as Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, and led a number of billionaires to open offices in the UAE.

That list includes Ray Dalio, founder of hedge fund firm Bridgewater Associates; Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange who pleaded guilty to money laundering in the US; and Russian steel magnate Vladimir Lisin. Last year, financial firms representing more than $450 billion committed to establishing operations in the international financial center of Abu Dhabi.

The transactions can also be seen through the lens of the UAE’s national security and how it is linked to the economy. The tiny country has investments in everything from American technology and Chinese artificial intelligence firms to Zambian copper mines and Indian solar projects, extending its power around the globe.