What Middle Eastern investors bought in 2010

Wednesday • December 15, 2010 • by

The year is coming to an end, and not far away many of us can see the light to a recovery in the market and economy. They say 2010 was a tough year. A year of survival, consolidation, restructuring, and liquidation. Not so much for Middle Eastern investors. Despite the market downturn and volatility, many Middle Eastern investors were still being very active investors around the world. From January to December 2010, investors in the Middle East invested more than $14 billion in disclosed assets globally, across asset classes such as listed equities, private companies, land, etc. Qatar has been the most active investor in the Middle East, led by the investments made by Qatari Diar, Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar First Investment Bank and QInvest. We have summarised the known deals made by Middle Eastern Investors in 2010 below. If there is anything we missed, please drop us a mail and we will update this post.

January

February

March

April

May

  • Two UAE residents bought London properties worth $29 million
  • Investcorp (Bahrain) acquired 348,542 square foot retail shopping centre “Deerbrook Marketplace” (US)

June

July

  • Abraaj Capital (Dubai) announced its plan to buy stakes in more than 100 small and medium sized companies by spending about $700 million from its Riyada Enterprise Development fund along with partner investors
  • Investcorp (Bahrain) acquired Veritext (US)

August

September

October

  • China Investment Corporation (China) and Qatar Holdings (Qatar) co-invested £500m to build a 690,000 square foot office in the City of London
  • Dnata (Dubai) acquired 100 percent share of Alpha Flight Group (UK) for $158 million
  • Landmark Investments (Dubai), the investment arm of Landmark Group, acquired the Fitness First franchise business in the MENA region
  • Invest AD (Abu Dhabi) may acquire 10 percent of the Mountain Carousel ski resort being built for the 2014 Winter Olympics on Russia’s Black Sea coast
  • Intaj Capital II (Middle East) received investment from IFC, EIB and Proparco
  • Banco Santander acquired stake in Banco Santander Brasil (Brazil) bank for $2.7 billion

November

December

  • Investcorp (Bahrain) provided seed capital to Ballast Capital Management LP for a sum probably between $50 million – $100 million
  • Mubadala (Abu Dhabi) invested $100 million into Verno Capital (Russia), an investment management firm dedicated to investing in the combined Russian and CIS region
  • Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) and New World Ventures invested along with Investcorp Technology Partners (Bahrain) invested $68 million in FleetMatics GPS
  • Tadhamon Capital (Bahrain) acquired Coxlease School (UK), in a transaction valued at $28 million
  • Shuaa Saudi Hospitality Fund (Dubai/Saudi Arabia) announced it will develop a budget hotel in Jeddah. The total cost of the project is estimated at SR160 million
  • Tawreed Investments(Abu Dhabi) bought a minority stake in Port of Brisbane (Australia) in a deal worth $2 billion
  • TVM Capital MENA (Dubai) invested in Bourn Hall International (UK)
  • Qatar Holding (Qatar) acquired a 9.1 per cent stake in German industrial firm Hochtief for $527 million to become a major shareholder in the company
  • Mubadala (Abu Dhabi) invested a further $500 million in Carlyle General Partnership for a combination of subordinated notes and additional equity
  • Abraaj Capital (Dubai) bought a 49% stake in a UAE-based credit-card processing company Network International in a transaction valued at around $539 million
  • A property investment fund run by Abraaj Capital (Dubai) bought an office building in Cairo for an undisclosed sum
  • Mubadala GE Capital acquired a 16% stake in an Omani power generation company for about $6 million
  • Korea Investment Corp will invest $50m in an infrastructure fund run by Mubadala Development Co (Abu Dhabi)
  • Qatari Diar invested in a $75 million Gran Paraiso luxury resort on Cayo Largo del Sur and a $70 million luxury hotel on the Malecón in Havana
  • NBK Capital (Kuwait) acquired a 20% stake in Turkey’s Kılıç Deniz

We have compiled this list from publicly available sources on the internet, and if there is anything we missed or misquoted, please contact us so we can update this post.

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