LAHORE: Internationally-acclaimed real estate tycoon Hussain Ali Sajwani has been listed as the 527th richest man in the world and the third wealthiest individual in the United Arab Emirates by the bi-weekly American “Forbes” magazine on January 10, 2017.
His net wealth has been estimated to be $3.4 billion by “Forbes,” which had recorded a circulation of 931,558 copies in 2013 and is on the course of completing 100 years of its publication on September 15 this year.
Sajwani’s relationship with American president-elect Donald Trump: According to reports appearing in numerous widely-subscribed American media houses, Donald Trump was recently seen lavishing prais on the Draieh Management Services Company (DAMAC) Properties’ Chairman Hussain Sajwani at his New Year party in Florida. Sajwani was invited to the party with his family, whom Trump called the “the most beautiful people”. Sajwani and his wife are also invited to American President-elect Donald Trump’s Inauguration Party to be held on January 20.
The residents of Middle East were excited over the reports on friendship of Sajwani, a UAE national, with US elected President Donald Trump. They read reports about their close relationship with keen interest. These reports were aired and published in American and Middle Eastern electronic and print media besides social media.
A number of Pakistanis were also excited over reports on Sajwani-Trump close relations as they knew the well known Sajwani. Several Pakistanis had bought properties in Dubai from the company owned by Sajwani.
It is pertinent to mention that when Trump’s criticism of Muslims was reported by the media during US election campaign, Sajwani stopped a project, signed by his and Trump’s company, work on which was earlier announced to start.
Sajwani had told an American media outlet “NBC News” that Trump’s election was “definitely good news” for his company.
He was quoted as saying: “Naturally, I think we will benefit from the strength of the brand going forward. I would love to enhance the relation with the Trump Organisation. We haven’t discussed anything during Florida party”.
It is imperative to note that the incoming US president had pledged in recent past to separate himself from his business empire by handing the reins over to his children before he is sworn in.
Sajwani was also quoted as saying that he had no problems working with Trump’s children.
“All his three children are very much involved, and I think under their leadership we will have no issue in expanding and growing and maintaining our business relation,” Sajwani told the NBC.
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks, meanwhile, insisted that the Dubai-based real estate developer and the US president-elect did not talk business at the party. “They had no formal meetings or professional discussions,” Hicks said. “Their interactions were social”.
Meanwhile, Kellyanne Conway, a top Trump adviser, had also defended Trump by remarking: “This man (Trump) is allowed to have a New Year’s Eve celebration with his friends, or his business partners, or his acquaintances,” she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on “Anderson Cooper 360”.
Research shows that in May 2014, Donald Trump and his wife had arrived in Dubai to check in on progress at the 42 million square foot golf community, AKOYA by DAMAC.
The New York-based Trump Organisation was collaborating with DAMAC Properties on the Trump International Golf Course, Dubai, and 104 exclusive Trump Estates villas and mansions in the master development.
The DAMAC website had stated: “Landing in his 757 private jet at Al-Maktoum International Airport, Trump was welcomed to Dubai by DAMAC Properties executives and shown the progress at the AKOYA by DAMAC, before they unveiled the first images of the new clubhouse. At a press conference hosted at the project, Trump praised the progress of the development and hailed: “This is going to be the greatest golf community in Asia! It is great to be working with DAMAC Properties, a highly professional and established company. Our ethos regarding quality is in synch. It was clearly the right match. We are pleased to be here in Dubai and see for ourselves the impressive progress that is being made”.
The website had said: “Mr Trump’s comments were supported by the International Property Awards, which named AKOYA by DAMAC “the best golf development in the world’ at a recent ceremony in London. Trump also didn’t hide his enthusiasm about the design of the new clubhouse”.
It had quoted Trump as viewing: “It is an inspiring masterpiece and a new landmark in the making within Dubai’s developed architectural scenery. The form and functionality of the building really is a wonderful piece of art. This clubhouse will raise the bar for all future projects to be developed under the Trump International Golf Club banner”.
Mrs Trump had chipped in saying: “It’s so exciting to be in Dubai and see the progress made on the project. The Trump Estates, Trump International Golf Club, Dubai and AKOYA by DAMAC are quickly becoming known as the most desirable places to live, work, and play in this exciting and progressive city”.
By May 2014, DAMAC had delivered almost 10,000 units and had a development portfolio of over 25,000 units at various stages of progress and planning.
Sajwani’s early life: The “Forbes” magazine, which is well known for its lists and rankings, including its lists of the richest Americans (the Forbes 400) and rankings of world’s top companies (the Forbes Global 2000) and the World’s Billionaires List every year, had tracked Sajwani’s early life too.
This is what this magazine had revealed about Sajwani’s early life and parents:
He grew up in Dubai in a middle-class family focused on selling. His father was a trader with a shop at the local souk, selling watches, Parker pens, shirts and goods imported from China. Sajwani would go to the shop after school most afternoons. His mother went door-to-door selling products to the women in the neighbourhood. Growing up, the dinnertime conversation often revolved around business, he recalls.
Since Sajwani had showed promise in school, he received a government scholarship in 1978 to study in the United States – making him one of the first wave of students sent to America by the government. After studying English in Atlanta for a few months, he got a degree in industrial engineering and economics from the University of Washington in Seattle. Early on Sajwani showed a willingness to take risks. While in college he used to sell time-share apartments in the United Arab Emirates on the side.
The CEO and founder of DAMAC, Hussain Sajwani had earned his undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Washington.
After graduating early in 1981, Sajwani landed a job in the finance department at Abu Dhabi Gas Industries, where he worked on contracts. There he saw just how much money could be made selling services and figured he could do better running his own outfit. Two years later he resigned and started a catering business in Abu Dhabi, using his earnings from the time-share sales as startup capital.
Married with four children, Sajwani had actually started DAMAC in 1992 as a specialist catering company.
This is what “Forbes” had written about Sajwani’s catering firm: “The catering business flourished. Sajwani landed customers like American construction giant Bechtel and the US military. His company, still operating and now called Global Logistics Services, supplied meals for American armed forces in Kuwait, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bosnia. He recalls sending in ovens and other equipment to make pizzas, at one point serving 2,000 pies a day from a tent in the desert. Around 1996, with the catering business humming, Sajwani started to develop small hotels in Dubai and purchased property in the Emirate’s downtown. Following the decision to allow foreigners to own property in Dubai, he sold some of the property he’d bought and used the funds to buy land in a then undeveloped neighbourhood called the Marina – an area now packed with futuristic glass skyscrapers”.
The magazine had further written: “Hussain Sajwani founded residential real estate developer Damac Properties in 2002, taking advantage of a Dubai government decree that allowed foreigners to own property in the Emirates. Buying land in a then-undeveloped part of town, he managed to sell his first 38-story residential building in less than six months – before he struck ground to start construction. Sajwani has since helped burnish Dubai’s image as a glittering destination. Damac has teamed up with global luxury brands Versace and Fendi to design apartments, and Donald Trump to develop golf courses. Marketing gimmicks include a free Lamborghini or BMW for apartment buyers every January. He started out in the food service business, attracting clients such as the US military and construction giant Bechtel. He still owns the food service firm”.
In March 2016, the “Forbes” had stated: “The Dubai real estate tycoon was overseeing a project grandiose even by Dubai’s extravagant standards. This is, after all, the Emirate that is home to a massive artificial island in the shape of a palm tree, an indoor skiing mountain and the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa. Set on 964 acres, Sajwani’s new Akoya community, about a 15-minute drive from the heart of Dubai, will feature lavish villas, mansions, apartments and its own retail centre. The centerpiece of the gated property is a golf course bearing the Trump name – a name long associated with success in the Arab world”.
The American magazine had held: “Sticking to business has been good for the 63-year-old Sajwani. His Damac Properties pulled in revenues of $2.3 billion in 2015, with net margins of more than 50%. The company has developed some 15,500 apartments since it was launched in 2002 and has another 40,000 units it plans to build and sell, in the United Arab Emirates and as far away as London. Its stellar results have landed Damac’s founder and chairman on Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires for the first time this year. His 72% stake in the company (which listed its shares on the Dubai Financial Market in January 2015), along with other investments, gives him a net worth of $3.2 billion”.
It had gone on to write: “Luxury brands, including Versace, Fendi and Bugatti, have entered co-branding deals with Damac, raising the appeal for its brand-obsessed clientele. Bugatti-branded villas planned for the Akoya Oxygen Damac development – a second community on 1,260 acres that will feature another Trump International golf course – include a space next to the glass-walled living room where owners can park and admire their Bugatti sports car.
The journey to DAMAC’s successes: In less than 25 years, DAMAC today has offices in Middle East, North Africa, Central Asian States, Europe, Far East, and the subcontinent. Sajwani also established Al Jazeira Services Company, a company listed on the Muscat Securities Market with a capitalisation of over US$125 million.
Sajwani had consolidated that company’s strengths in the financial services industry by making strategic investments in the insurance sector through the acquisition of a 40 percent stake in the Bahrain-based, public-listed Al Ahlia Insurance Company in 2003.
By September 2014, DAMAC was valued at over $4 billion and Hussain Sajwani owned approximately 85 per cent of the firm’s properties, putting his net worth in excess of $3.5 billion.
On November 4, 2013, DAMAC Properties had announced it plans to raise around $500 million from a sale of global depository receipts on the London Stock Exchange.
These developments were reported on November 4, 2013 by the prestigious British news agency Reuters, which was founded in October 1851.
The London-based Reuters had stated: “Dubai developer DAMAC Properties said Monday it plans to raise around $500 million (313.5 million pounds) from a sale of global depositary receipts on the London Stock Exchange as it seeks to take advantage of a recovery in the Emirate’s property market. A London listing would make DAMAC the first major property firm in Dubai to conduct an initial public offering since the Emirate’s property market imploded in 2009. Each GDR will be worth 3 ordinary shares in DAMAC, the regulatory filing said. A GDR is a certificate that represents a block of shares in a company. GDRs are often issued by firms in emerging market states to allow foreign investors to buy the stock more easily”.
The news agency, which also transmits news in Urdu, English, French, Arabic, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Chinese languages, had added: “All the shares in the issue will come from Hussain Sajwani, the executive chairman and founder of DAMAC, who is selling part of his stake in the firm, the statement said. No details on timing or the percentage of the company being sold to investors was given in the statement. The Citigroup and Deutsche Bank are joint book runners for the offering, with the investment banking arm of Saudi Arabia’s Samba Financial Group acting as co-lead managers. DAMAC had hired the investment banks to advice on the planned flotation, Reuters had reported in September. Dubai’s property market is recovering after a 60 percent plunge in prices from their 2008 peak.
The developer, which was founded in 2002, scaled back projects during the downturn but has returned with new schemes”.
The Reuters had gone on to maintain: “It recently announced plans for a $1 billion Hollywood-themed development in Dubai with Viacom Incorporated’s Paramount Group and said in May it was working with American real estate mogul Donald Trump to build a new golf course in Dubai. DAMAC’s revenue for the six months ended June 30 was $631.9 million, it said in the statement. Its profit in the first half of the year was $332 million, higher than $212.1 million it made in whole of 2012”. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/178543-Well-known-real-estate-developer-Sajwani-close-to-Trump
Comments are closed.