It is a fact: the multimillion-dollar conglomerates from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who are stomping their way into Colombia want to do business in infrastructure, clean energy and the food industry, among others. The interest is so great that the Government opened the doors of the Casa de Nariño to listen to them and, at the same time, tell them regarding the benefits of investing in the country.
Thus, four powerful Emirati companies held high-level meetings with President Gustavo Petro and some of his ministers, with the mediation of the Gilinski family. They are International Holding Company (IHC); Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company (ADQ); Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA); and Alpha Dhabi Holding.
Who is who
Maybe the most “known” in Colombia is IHC, due to a recent Takeover Offer (OPA) by Grupo Nutresa, which was finally declared void due to the low interest of shareholders in selling. The market capitalization of that company is close to US$180,000 million.
In addition, IHC has operations in 10 sectors, including food, agriculture and entertainment, and has listed subsidiaries such as Alpha Dhab and Al Seer Marine. The one behind it is Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, who has been embroiled in scandals such as the Pandora Papers.
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In turn, ADQ is a US$110 billion holding company that primarily pursues opportunities in the energy, financial services and food industries. And a peculiarity, according to the Archyde.com agency, is that has been cooking its global expansion over low heat, as it has been hiring Western investment bankers by the dozen, who come from Bank Of America or HSBC, for example.
Meanwhile, ADIA is a sovereign wealth fund from Abu Dhabi on which assets are estimated to be close to US$900,000 million and in recent years it has been betting on the infrastructure sector; while Alpha Dhabi Holding has a diverse portfolio ranging from construction to luxury accommodation services.
little explored
These exorbitant figures confirm that the Arab conglomerates have significant support to make strong investments in the country, if they had not already shown it with the support they gave to the Gilisnki to launch the OPAs for the paisa companies.
In any case, today the commercial relationship between Colombia and the United Arab Emirates is still in its infancy. Between January and September Exports to that territory totaled US$172 million, which means that it is barely the destination of 0.2% of the goods shipped abroad.
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Gold, beef and coffee are the products that the Emiratis demand the most from the national territory, and according to the Ministry of Commerce, by 2030 the bilateral focus is to work on strengthening connectivity; promote mega-investments in tourism; energy and technology; food security and agricultural projects, among others.
It is worth remembering that in the government of former President Iván Duque the negotiation for the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United Arab Emirates was promotedbut, nevertheless, the process is today in the “freezer” because President Petro’s team questions that this FTA “does not provide for appellation of origin.”
It remains to be seen the direction that bilateral relations will take following the meeting held at the beginning of this week, in the midst of the controversies over the role that regulatory entities have played during the OPA processes by companies from Antioquia, in which they have been involved, precisely, Arab firms
