The #UAE business that went from obscurity to a $240bn valuation in 3 years | Financial Times

The UAE business that went from obscurity to a $240bn valuation in 3 years | Financial Times

Three years ago, International Holding Company was a little known company that ran fish farms and food and real estate businesses. It employed just 40 people. Today, the Abu Dhabi-listed group’s market capitalisation of $240bn is more than double that of global giants Siemens and GE and it has a headcount of 150,000. 

It is an extraordinary transformation that has largely gone unnoticed outside the United Arab Emirates, and is little understood — even by bankers based in the region. 

“Nobody knows,” said one Gulf-based international banker when asked to explain IHC’s dramatic growth. It is a common response to questions about the conglomerate, despite it accounting for a third of the FADX 15, the benchmark index of the ADX Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. As its share price has soared 42,000 per cent since 2019, it has become the second largest listed company in the Middle East after Saudi Aramco, the state oil company. 

Even Syed Basar Shueb, who took over as IHC’s chief executive in mid-2019, acknowledged that “it’s amazing”.