Exclusive | Little-known Dubai Sheikh Ali Al Maktoum who planned US$500 million family office in Hong Kong postpones its opening at eleventh hour
- Office says ‘urgent matters in Dubai required the sheikh’s attention’
- UAE consulate confirms prince ‘from the ruling family’, as Al Maktoum tells Post source of his wealth has come from ‘own initiatives’
A Dubai prince who made waves after announcing plans to set up a new family office in Hong Kong with a US$500 million investment pledge has abruptly postponed its opening scheduled for Thursday.
Late on Wednesday night, just hours after Sheikh Ali Rashed Ali Saeed Al Maktoum made an appearance at a private dialogue on philanthropy, a close aide issued a statement that the family office’s opening would be rescheduled.
The statement, titled “Royal Family’s HK office in respite”, said: “It was announced today that the official opening of the Office of Sheikh Ali Rashed Ali Saeed Al Maktoum … has been delayed.”
The office said “urgent matters in Dubai required the sheikh’s attention”. Eleanor Jane Mak, the office’s vice-chairman and CEO, said the matter was personal and declined to elaborate.
A new date for the official opening would be decided in due course and the office hoped for the public’s understanding regarding the “unfortunate postponement”, the statement added.
The sudden deferment was revealed a day after the UAE confirmed to the Post the identity of the little-known 28-year-old prince who had said his uncle was Dubai’s ruler and prime minister.
He was in Hong Kong making high-profile appearances over the past week.
The prince was also received by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday, and was invited to speak at a high-end “Wealth for Good summit” on Wednesday that gathered prominent investors and global family office industry professionals.
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Al Maktoum’s ambitious investment plan announced earlier attracted considerable attention and interest from mainland Chinese enterprises, which had started looking into his background, the Post learned.
Some found public information and his business records to be scarce, raising questions about his sources of funding and how closely connected he is to the ruling family and whether any business partnerships came with any sovereign guarantee.
Questions were also raised by scholars who had studied the royal family history of Gulf states on Al Maktoum’s relationship with the prime minister.
In a reply to the Post, the consulate of the UAE said Ali Al Maktoum was “from the ruling family” and “a sheikh” – an honorific title designating a royal family member of the UAE – adding that most of the sheikhs had their own private offices.
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At a university event that Ali Al Maktoum attended on Tuesday, the Post asked him to confirm if he was the UAE prime minister’s nephew, as described by some media.
“I am a member of the family. I look up to him. I see him as my inspiration. I’m thankful for his leadership,” he replied.
“Everywhere we go, we bring people. We bring people to Dubai and the UAE. So we are very happy and blessed to be able to continue Sheikh Mohammed [bin Rashid Al Maktoum]’s legacy,” he said, referring to the prime minister.
Asked about the source of his wealth and whether it was from his family or his own business, the prince told the Post it was from his “own initiatives”.
“I think, you know, we all have the potential to come and be part of something big. And that’s how, you know, we come together to make a difference,” he said.
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Ali Al Maktoum said he was exploring “all sorts of partnership joint ventures” and investments in real estate, tourism, fintech and artificial intelligence.
He also said Hong Kong served as “a middle ground” to connect the UAE with the Greater Bay Area.
The bay area refers to Beijing’s ambitious initiative to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities into an economic powerhouse.
“I’ve been [in Hong Kong] for about a week. I’ve seen there’s so much more to offer when it comes to platforms that we could embark on,” he said.
His sudden emergence as an Emirati royal family member became the talk of business circles in the city because of a trifecta of factors: the Middle East, family offices and foreign investments.
All three are high on the Hong Kong government’s agenda as the city seeks new growth momentum amid geopolitical challenges.
Al Maktoum announced a US$500 million plan to open a family office in Hong Kong to seek investment opportunities in the Asian region in a Bloomberg interview in which he was first described as “the nephew”.
This reference was later changed to “a relative” of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Hong Kong is also apparently the firm’s first foreign outpost, and the family office has reportedly started talks with potential target companies. He had told the media he was keen to seek out opportunities in AI, electric cars, fintech and construction.
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Other news reports said he recently visited mainland cities including Beijing, Shenzhen, Fujian and Nanjing, where he explored investment potential in green energy.
A check by the Post of his office address in Dubai revealed it to be in a middle-class residential neighbourhood where expats are also tenants.
On his website, the “gallery” section which is presumably to display pictures of events he has taken part in, five events are listed, all from the second half of last year. Three of them are Hong Kong-related.
As with European monarchies, Emirati “royal” families tend to be relatively small, so the title of sheikh is exclusively held by the emir and his close relatives, making them household names in the UAE.
This exclusivity is cultivated through marriages within the UAE’s ruling families, as well as through marriages with members of other Emirati royals and Arab monarchies.
Two individuals with knowledge of the royal family said Ali Al Maktoum was from a “distant branch” of the ruling sheikh’s family.
Kristin Diwan Smith, a senior resident scholar of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, noted an oddity about the given name of Sheikh Ali’s father, Rashed, as denoted by the “bin Rashed” component of his name.
There have only been two Dubai sheikhs named Rashed in the last three generations of al-Maktoums: the late father and late son of the current ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
“He isn’t the son of any of Mohammed bin Rashid’s brothers,” said Smith, who has co-authored two research papers on Gulf monarchies’ lines of succession in recent years.
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Hong Kong jewellery businessman Aaron Shum Wan-lung said they first met in Hong Kong last December when the prince visited city officials and the Hong Kong-Middle East Business Chamber he founded.
“He’s remarkably humble and down to earth,” Shum told the Post. “After touring my museum, we dined and sang karaoke together in the small garden of my office.”
He argued that the young emerging prince’s source of wealth could be from his family, appealing to people to focus on his sincerity and swift actions in engaging with Hong Kong.
“The doubt exactly demonstrated the pressing need to enhance Hong Kong’s understanding of Middle Eastern culture and social structure,” he said.
