In 2016, Alabbar went from UAE real estate heavyweight at the head of Emaar and Eagle Hills to a big name in food and e-commerce after several acquisitions. He started the year by announcing a new landmark tower project in Dubai designed to be taller than Emaar’s Burj Khalifa as part of the Creek Harbour development and later caught headlines with a number of interesting acquisitions. These included a $138.6m joint venture with fashion retailer Yoox Net-A-Porter, the $2.35bn acquisition of Kuwait’s Americana by his Adeptio investment firm and the purchase of a minority stake in logistics company Aramex as part of an investment group. The trusted advisor to Dubai’s Ruler, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, also took the time to announce $1bn e-commerce venture Noon.com in partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and could be making more big moves in 2017 with a messaging app rival to WhatsApp said to be in the works.
Chairman, Emaar
Origin:UAE
Residence:UAE
Sector:Real Estate