Syed Basar Shueb

MIDDLE Eastern oil money is looking for a new home in critical minerals, and Africa is benefiting. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been searching for good opportunities for a couple of years. The UAE is now doing the same, in the form of IHC, Abu Dhabi’s biggest listed company, an industrial conglomerate chaired by a brother of the emirate’s president. In his six years as CEO, Syed Shueb is credited with driving the group’s expansion across the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

By end-2025, IHC boasted assets of around $239bn and had about 1,500 subsidiaries. It dominates the UAE economy, accounting for about 40% of the FTSE ADX General Index. Diversification out of the UAE economy makes sense, and this is a conglomerate that can withstand risk at the margin. There has been a hiatus in recent investment activity that hasn’t gone unnoticed. A change of heart? Unlikely. Rather Middle Eastern money is ‘getting its bearings’ amid more volatile global politics. Shueb says the goal is to create an international business: 54% of IHC’s revenues now come from outside Abu Dhabi, which will become about 65% after recent acquisitions.

In the past two years, IHC, through its subsidiary International Resources Holding (IRH), has bought 51% in Mopani Copper in Zambia for $1.1bn and a 56% controlling stake in Alphamin Resources, owner of the Bisie tin mine in the DRC, for $367m. Bisie produces about 6% of global tin. In South Africa, IHC has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Public Investment Corporation to collaborate on mining opportunities, develop sustainable green energy, invest in logistics and create an advanced geoscience company that will use AI for geological surveys and research.