A BILLION-DOLLAR GAMBLE

Emirati billionaire Mohamed Alabbar has been on a shopping spree in the past year. In April 2016, the head of Emaar Properties paid 100 million euros for a 4 percent stake in the Italian luxury e-commerce platform Yoox Net-a-Porter (the two set up a JV in November), according to Bloomberg. In July, Alabbar was the lead investor on two deals for a combined total of 16.45 percent in Lebanese logistics firm Aramex (value undisclosed), according to Reuters. Then came the big reveal — in November, Alabbar announced a $1 billion investment war chest to build Noon, a regional e-commerce platform he said would be operational by end of January. While Noon is not up and running, Alabbar assured the world via a statement in mid-May the site is “on track to launch this year.” The statement coincided with news of layoffs at the fledgling company and perhaps the worst news yet for Noon. Alabbar began the month by acquiring the Dubai-based e-commerce platform JadoPado and making its founder, Omar Kassim, chief technology officer of Noon. On May 22, Kassim quit, telling the UAE’s The National “I just didn’t know how deep the problems ran.” While the fate of Noon is arguably once again in question, another Alabbar purchase in May could be leveraged to assist in building a startup. For an undisclosed sum, Alabbar bought a significant but non-controlling stake in Lebanon’s Middle East Venture Partners. Co-founder Walid Hanna tells Executive the deal will result in MEVP doubling staff in Dubai from four to eight and raising a new fund that will “probably triple our assets under management.” Hanna deferred announcing many of the details to Alabbar — who Executive was unable to reach for comment — but added that MEVP will give Alabbar two of five board seats but retain control over day-to-day operations.