UAE conglomerates to bring other businesses to Phl
Al Ahli Holding Group (AAHG), the UAE-headquartered conglomerate that brought the pop culture convention AsiaPop to the Philippines, is looking to bring its other businesses to the country as it continues to expand. In an interview with The
STAR, Mohammed Khammas, CEO of AAHG said a stable environment makes the Philippines an attractive investment destination.
“We’re into infrastructure, retail, consumer, real estate, social media, entertainment and events. These are the kinds of things we want to expand into and bring over here,” Khammas said.
He said the group wants to bring new and pioneering concepts that are not yet in the country.
“The (Philippine) government is now very committed to foreign investments so we’re looking heavily at different possibilities on how we can contribute and put something that is not yet here,” Khammas said.
“The Philippines is a stable market. The Philippines isn’t volatile at all and quite tested no matter how hard the times get,” he added.
He noted the huge success of the recently concluded Asia Pop Comicon Manila, the biggest pop culture convention in the Asian region.
“This event is no longer just about the Philippines. It’s an Asia event. We intend to continue it here. We’re just getting started. It’s going to be an anchor event for us for other things we want to do in the Philippines,” he said.
He recalled that three years ago they chose the Philippines among all the countries in Asia for the Asia Pop Comicon because of the Filipinos’ passion and penchant for pop culture.
AAHG is a multi-diversified international conglomerate with over four decades of successfully dealing with business activities ranging from real estate to turnkey construction, engineering and infrastructure, retail and trading, technology and logistics, lifestyle and fitness, entertainment, hospitality and innovative developments.
At present, it holds the exclusive largest franchise rights to US-based Gold’s Gym International in the Middle
East and Africa and established Al Ahli Plastics, one of Middle East’s largest plastic manufacturing companies. It also holds licenses to publish Marvel, Warner Bros., DC Comics and Sanrio comics and activity books.
The company is also building a Foxbranded theme park and resort in Dubai and has strategic alliances with Fox Studios, Marvel-Disney, Sony Pictures Warner Bros and other leading Hollywood studios across its multi-entertainment based platforms.