Hello again,

After a rather lackluster return to putting together a weekly newsletter, I am going to return to
my wheelhouse: Emirati state-affiliated enterprises. Specifically, I want to focus on
International Holding Company (IHC), a company whose chairman is (again) Tahnoun bin Zayed,
and which is apparently also in the portfolio of The Royal Group.

There are multiple reasons to cover IHC. First is the company’s sheer size in Abu Dhabi’s stock
market. IHC is the owner of Alpha Dhabi and Multiply Group, two publicly-traded companies
with large market capitalizations on Abu Dhabi’s securities exchange. It also has at least eight
subsidiaries that trade on Abu Dhabi’s “Second Market.” IHC is also a significant owner of Shuaa
Capital, a major investment firm based in the Gulf and UK.
IHC also has significant investments outside of the UAE: it owns three subsidiaries (all
focused on green technology) within the Indian Adani Group. It is also developing projects with
PAL Group, Sudan’s largest privately-owned commercial conglomerate. IHC is also invested in
SpaceX (though the structure of that investment makes it appear that this was done more for
marketing than capital accumulation).

Update company ownership and other info from the portal

Then, there is IHC’s possible role in the UAE’s security strategies, broadly defined. G42
press releases indicate that (under the direction of the UAE’s Ministry of Health) it has been
working with Oxford Nanopore Technologies, a biotech company based in the UK, since
December 2019. This collaboration resulted in both companies deploying a device for mass
COVID screening in June 2020. In October 2020 IHC invested 39 million pounds sterling in
Oxford Nanopore Technologies, representing 46 percent of the money raised for that round of
funding. IHC appears to have done actions like this less (at least publicly), as G42 became a well-
capitalized firm.
IHC’s investment strategy might also differ from G42’s in that it is less focused on long-
term strategy and more focused on short-term tactical competitive advantage. In February
2020 an IHC subsidiary, IHC Capital Holding LLC, acquired 31.5 percent of one of the UAE’s
largest medical laboratory operators and medical device distributors, Pure Health Medical
Supplies LLC. While the acquisition was initiated in 2019, and the previous owner was the TBZ-
affiliated Royal Group, it was a lucky acquisition to make.
Less ambiguous was the acquisition of Easy Lease Motorcycle Rental LLC and Uplift
Delivery Services LLC. Both companies’ acquisition began on March 10, 2020, as it was
becoming globally apparent that the effects of COVID-19 would be significant. The IHC filing for
these acquisitions, like the Pure Health filing, references IHC’s November 2019 board meeting
as the period in which this acquisition was decided on. However, unlike Pure Health, neither
company is mentioned by name any documentation filed by IHC for those meetings. In the
period immediately before delivery services were necessary to transport goods needed by
white-collar workers, picking up the companies needed to make that work was a canny
maneuver.
 To my knowledge, this network map of IHC’s investments is the first of its kind. As its
creator I can assure you that it likely inaccurate and definitely incomplete. The inaccuracies
come from the likelihood that IHC failed to outline the complete chain of subsidiaries linking it
to the acquisitions listed in its filings. More significant though is the near-certainty that the
network map is incomplete. The reasons for this are showcased in a filing made on September
17, 2020. In it, IHC responds to an email from an employee of the Abu Dhabi Securities
Exchange, asking for an explanation of why IHC did not disclose its ownership in Yieldmo Inc.,
an NYC-based digital advertising company. IHC’s response indicates that the disclosure was not
required because the acquisition had been made by its subsidiary (which did not start filing
public disclosure with the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange until November 2021). Furthermore,
reporting the investment was not required because the ratio of the size of the investment (USD
8 million) and IHC’s total share capital was not large enough to warrant it. Because Yieldmo
appears to have filed no paperwork with the SEC directly linking it to the subsidiary, there are
no regulatory filings substantiating the link. The only reason this was identified is because the
regulator followed up on a media story. I assume that there are more IHC acquisitions, held
either directly or through subsidiaries, that are similar.

Company history (and media coverage):

IHC has received a fair amount of coverage since 2020, roughly a year after Syed Naser Shueb
gained a position at the company, and the same year that Tahnoun bin Zayed became IHC’s
Chairman. The angle of coverage is…unique, however. The first article from Bloomberg covering
the company notes that IHC’s stock had increased 2,819 percent in a 12 month period, with
very low trading volumes, and with no noticeable effect from the global COVID 19-related
economic downturn. The increase in share price was so extreme on April 13 th and 14th 2020 that
IHC filed a disclosure on April 15, 2020 explaining that this was due to “the increase in demand
(bid) and lack of orders (ask) in the market.” Additionally, while multiple buy-side analysts
would generally be responsible for covering a company of IHC’s size, none were doing so at the
time of publication.
Roughly a year later, in March 2021, Bloomberg reported that IHC’s stock price had increased
70 percent in a period of three weeks. Again, no explanation was given for the stock price’s
dramatic movement.

No longer acquiring one of the Shuaa subsidiaries (Shueb is now “managing director”),
November 19, 2019.

Syed Naser Shueb bio.

Tahnoun bin Zayed and others nominated to the board, April 6, 2020.

Note on market transparency (and its limitations):

 My major source of information for this and any subsequent newsletters are disclosures
filed with the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. This speaks to the fact that, in order to attract
foreign investment, countries will disclose a significant amount of valuable information. Even
the Damascus Securities Exchange (which has some notable information gaps) keeps up this
façade.

While the Yieldmo Inc. filing demonstrates the limits of

From a conceptual level, the other interesting thing to note about these companies is their
corporate structure. Rather than