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Mohamed bin Issa Al Jaber

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Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber (* 1959 in Jeddah) is a Saudi Austrian businessman, whose spectacular investment projects -- that were engaged through his group MBI International -- have often filled the newspaper headlines.

Personal information

Family

Al Jaber got married to Mrs Makkia Mahmoud Hassan in Jeddah on November 11, 1978. He has two daughters, Mashael (born in 1986) and Bashayer (born in 1990), and a son, Mohsen (born in 1992).

Saudi nationality

Some Internet blogs question Al Jaber’s Saudi origins. These believe that he is a Yemenite who immigrated to Saudi Arabia in the 1970’s and was later granted the Saudi nationality upon the request of Prince Abdelaziz Bin Fahd.

Austrian nationality

Al Jaber acquired the Austrian nationality in 2007 after a first refusal. Michael Häupl, Vienna’s mayor, explained to the Kurier newspaper that it was the city’s Chamber of Commerce who lobbied in his favour. Later, Al Jaber financed 10% of the Vienna Tourism University (Modul University Vienne) construction that was handled by the Chamber of Commerce[2]. The University opened in autumn 2007. In response to these allegations, Al Jaber’s spokesman denied any ties between the University construction and the attribution of nationality. In 2008, the Austrian magazine Profile indicated that Al Jaber’s nationality had been obtained upon the decision of the Counsel of Ministers for a series of investments. In September 2009, Al Jaber launched the MHFF - Dr. Michael Häupl Promotion Funds for vocational promotion in tourism. Later in February 2009, Häupl decorated him with a medal of honour.

Planes

The Boeing 1967 727-22 with identification number N400RG and the Bombardier 2006 BD-700-1A11 Global 5000 with identification number N171JJ have the MBI & Partners international logo and are registered under American-based trusts funds.


His business background

Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber is presented as a Saudi billionaire and a self-made-man listed in March 2012 by Forbes Magazine as the world’s 133rd billionaire with a net worth of USD 7bn . However, his sources of wealth remain mysterious.

Origins of his wealth

Some Internet blogs state that Mohammed Bin Issa Al Jaber comes from a very modest Yemenite family. They indicate that in the 1970’s, he launched a business in the trade of small construction tools in Al Khobar.

Some rumours also state that he began working as the receptionist of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd’s wife. For his loyal services to the King’s wife, he would have been granted parcels of land that became profitable when they hosted housings for US militaries during the first Gulf war.

Later, he associated with Prince Turki Bin Nasser – husband of Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz’s daughter – for the construction of luxury housings dedicated to foreign military officials in the country. In parallel, he invested in hotel resorts abroad. During that period, he is said to have defrauded numerous banks, and notably the Saudi National Bank.

As he was facing serious conflicts with Prince Turki Bin Nasser, he managed to gain the support and protection of Prince Abdelaziz Bin Fahd, King Fahd’s favourite son, with whom he partnered. This association allowed him to multiply his fortune.


Businesses

Today, Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber is chairman and CEO of MBI International & Partners, headquartered in London and that was initially established on the basis of Jadawel International[3].

His MBI International group compromises the following companies: JJW Hotels & Resorts, including luxury hotels in Austria, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom, Amarante 4-star hotels in France, Portugal and Egypt as well as Median 3-star hotels in and Stars budget hotels in France, AJWA Group for Food Industries, an agri-food processing company, Jadawel International, a company developing residential compounds for expatriates in Saudi Arabia, and Continentoil.

MBI International & Partners and its companies are estimated to be worth more than 6 billion euros[4]. In April 2011, Al Jaber announced that he owned 80% of the Group and mentioned a 300 million euros profit for the year 2010[5].

Nonetheless, the group has recorded many disputes for defaulted credits, unpaid salaries and stock market fraud.

Management

His daughters

His two daughters, Mashael and Bashayer Al Jaber, have always had executive positions in the group’s companies.[6][7]

Andrea King

According to Internet sources, Andrea King is in charge of MBI International’s communication. Some other websites say that she would have huge responsibilities within the group although she never appeared in public.

In Austria, some time before Kneissl went bankrupt, Andrea King replaced Al Jaber’s daughter Mashael as the company’s manager. In March 2011, she became member of the Board of the « Erste Wiener hôtel AG » in Vienna, after three of its members resigned[8].

In June 2011, Andrea King replaced Al Jaber as the Grand Hôtel Wien’s manager. Shortly before, the Bank of Austria had filed a complaint against Al Jaber in Vienna’s commercial Court for the 4,3 million euros of defaulted credits of the Grand Hotel and the Ring hotel.[9]

In France, in 2009, while the press was revealing JJW’s financial troubles, Andreas King became Manager of the hotel groups Amarante[10], Stars[11], Median[12] and JJW Luxury Hotels[13].

During the summer of 2010, along with Al Jaber and his daughter, she took over management responsibilities of hotels located in the UK[14]: THE SCOTSMAN HOTEL[15][16], THE BABY GRAND HOTEL[17].


Al Jaber’s International business endeavours and multiple litigations

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In 1982, he founded Jadawel International Construction & Development.

In 1989, JJW Hotels & Resorts was established in Portugal and is now the owner-operator of more than 60 hotel and leisure resorts in Europe and the Middle East.

In 1992, AJWA Group for Agro and Food Industries commenced operations following the construction at Jeddah Islamic Port of the largest rice storage and processing facility in Saudi Arabia.

In 2002 Al Jaber acquired the Grand Hotel Vienna from All Nippon Airways.

In 2003 he opened negotiations to purchase J.A. Jones Construction.

In 2007 Al Jaber expanded the JJW Hotels & Resort group acquiring The Eton Collection. Five boutique and townhouse hotels in London, Leeds and Edinburgh [1] were acquired in November by Westmont Hospitality.[2]

In 2008 Al Jaber planned to acquire 20-per-cent share of Austrian Airlines.[3] Instead he bought Kneissl, an Austrian manufacturer of skis and tennis rackets. In February 2010 Al Jaber made his oldest daughter Mashael Al Jaber a co-manager of Kneissl Holding.

In January 2008 Al Jaber's JJW acquired hotels and golf resorts in Algarve, Portugal for 268 million USD.

In July 2008 Al Jaber announced to invest more than one billion Euros in the Tours de Levallois project[4] which has not yet been built.[5]

In October 2008 Al Jaber was said to buy 12 hotels in France from the Starwood Capital Group including the Crillon.[6]

April 2010 Mohammed Bin Issa Al Jaber walks away from signed and agreed Starwood purchase [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]



In April and May 2010 Mohammed Bin Issa Al Jaber and his company Jadawel International identified by the Human Rights Watch as abusing basic rights of workers by not paying salary and benefit payments and for holding them against their will. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] The United Nations also accuses Al Jaber of violating workers human rights. Jorge Bustemante, United Nations, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants [17].. [18]


In December 2010 the Berners Hotel in London was acquired by Marriott International.[19]

In May 2011 an Egyptian court fined nonexecutive chairman Al Jaber for untrue facts documented in company records by members of the company administration of AJWA Group for Food Industries.[20] Al Jaber had been tried in absentia in December 2010 and denying any wrongdoing, appealed against initial charges.[21]

Personal life

Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber lives in Paris, London, Vienna and Jeddah. Al Jaber is married and has three children.

Fortune

Forbes magazine lists him 64th on its 2009 list of world billionaires with a net worth of $7.0 billion.[22] And in 2010 he was ranked number 93 with a net worth of 7.5 billion.[23]

Philanthropy

Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber is founder, sole patron and Chairman of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation, which provides scholarships to graduate students from the Middle East and sponsors educational and cultural projects that promote better understanding between the peoples of the Middle East and the wider world. Through the MBI Foundation he helped to start Olive Tree, a scholarship programme that enables Israeli and Palestinian students to study together. He has also backed female education in Saudi Arabia and is a Unesco special envoy.[24] MBI Al Jaber founded the MBI Trust in London and subsequently endowed the MBI Al Jaber Chair in Middle Eastern Studies at the London University School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He was founding patron in 2000 of the London Middle East Institute at SOAS, directed by the MBI Al Jaber Chair. In 2009 The MBI Al Jaber Building, which won a RIBA award for architectural excellence, was inaugurated at Corpus Christi College Oxford. In 2007, the MBI Al Jaber Foundation made a £1m gift in support of the UCL Institute for Cultural Heritage.

Awards

Al Jaber holds an Honorary Fellowship from Corpus Christi College, Oxford (2009), a Doctor of Science honorary degree from City University London (2004) and Doctor of Letters honorary degree from University of Westminster (2004), an Honorary Fellowship of London University at the School of Oriental and African Studies (2002), the ALESCO Gold Medal for his support of UNESCO projects aimed at promoting education, culture and scientific activities in the Arab World and a Gold Medal of honour for special achievements in the economic and cross-cultural educational sectors of Vienna presented by the Mayor of Vienna.

References

  1. ^ http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23846258-upmarket-hotels-group-eton-collapses.do
  2. ^ http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2010/12/15/336395/Eton-Group-bought-out-of-administration.htm
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ http://www.mbiinternational.com/mbi-news/mbi-international-invests-over-1-billion-euros-in-two-towers-in-paris
  5. ^ http://www.propertyeu.info/index-newsletter/tours-de-levallois-project-seeks-new-investors/
  6. ^ Karam, Souhail (26 October 2008). "Saudi group in $2 billion hotel deal with Starwood: paper". Reuters.
  7. ^ http://www.starwoodcapital.com/UploadedImages/JJW_Litigation.pdf
  8. ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/04/02/us-starwood-crillon-jdUSTRE63837X20100409
  9. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/9024283
  10. ^ http://www.law360.com/corporatefinance/articles/160897
  11. ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/04/09/us-starwood-crillon-idUSTRE63827X20100409
  12. ^ http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/04/23/saudi-arabia-free-trapped-migrant-workers
  13. ^ http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/05/28/saudi-arabia-companys-workers-unpaid-trapped
  14. ^ http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2011/saudi-arabia
  15. ^ http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/wrd1210webwcover.pdf
  16. ^ http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article326174.ece?comments=all
  17. ^ http://spcomms.ohchr.org/Docs/.../AL_Saudi_Arabia_19.08.10_(7.2010).pdf.
  18. ^ http://unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4ea661e628.html dated 8 June 2011
  19. ^ http://www.sleepermagazine.co.uk/News/679535/marriott_international_acquires_berners_hotel_for_london_edition.html
  20. ^ "Ajwa head to appeal Egypt financial crime convictions". Reuters. 1 January 2011.
  21. ^ "Ajwa head to appeal Egypt financial crime convictions". Reuters. 1 January 2011.
  22. ^ http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/10/billionaires-2009-richest-people_Mohamed-Bin-Issa-Al-Jaber_LATV.html The World's Billionaires 2009 - Forbes.com
  23. ^ "The World's Billionaires Page 4 of 41". Forbes. 10 March 2010.
  24. ^ Verjee, Neelam (December 24, 2005). "Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber". London: The Times. Retrieved 2010-12-31.

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