As chairman of billion-dollar sovereign wealth fund Aabar, Qubaisi oversaw the acquisition of a 53 per cent controlling stake in Arabtec, the UAE’s largest construction firm in May 2012. Under his leadership, Arabtec has set up a new subsidiary to develop real estate projects in the Middle East and in December 2013 the company had a backlog of projects worth about $8.2 billion. Al Qubaisi also chairs a number of plastics and petrochemical companies as well as Bahrain’s First Energy Bank.