In the lobby of the Four Seasons Abu Dhabi, steps away from the offices of billionaires Ray Dalio and Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, men in white thobes and tailored suits cluster in hushed conversation around low tables strewn with tiny cups of Arabic coffee. Seats in the hotel’s lounge pit are limited, and for good reason: It’s become the region’s nerve center for the obscure world of private capital.
“Every Tom, Dick and Harry around the world is trying to come here,” said Ryan Lemand, co-founder and chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi-based Neovision Wealth Management. “It’s like the gold rush.”
Some 86 miles (138 kilometers) up the Persian Gulf coast in Dubai, the scene could hardly be more different.
Its marble hotel lobbies are frenetic, with crowds of conference attendees and selfie stick-wielding tourists mixing with suited types with slicked-back hair. For all its mansions and gold-leaf everything, Dubai has scant oil and small sovereign wealth funds, and it had to be bailed out by its richer neighbor during the financial crisis. It’s the capital of over-the-top ostentation — while Abu Dhabi, investors like to say, is the capital of capital.
“Where there’s money, there’s wannabes. And there are a lot of wannabes in Dubai,” said Tobias Prestel, a Dubai resident who runs Prestel & Partner, a family office network that hosts conferences globally.
That question — Abu Dhabi or Dubai? — is a common one among billionaires, fund managers, startup founders, trust attorneys and even fraudsters who are either in or seeking a slice of the insular world of family offices. The answer gives a clue to the origins and intentions of a varied and global group, united in their interest in significant wealth. Seventeen interviews in both cities in recent weeks give a glimpse into how private fortunes are embedded in the United Arab Emirates, possibly the most moneyed and ambitious economy in history.
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