Forbes - Dubai Inc.

[PhilipShore]

Forbes
Dubai Inc.
03.03.06

http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2006/03/02/dubai-DPWorld-Emmar_cx_daa_0302dubai.html

For years, Dubai Inc. has been quietly building a global empire. From Wall Street to Shanghai, DP World, Dubai Holdings, Emaar Development and a host of banks, developers and private equity firms gobbled up whole companies and grabbed big stakes in big names--all in the interest of building the world's most prosperous city-state.

Two weeks ago, everyone noticed.

First it was DP World and its efforts to buy Britain's P&O port operators, which would put it in charge of America's East Coast ports. Then, on Thursday, it was Dubai International Capital, a unit of Dubai Holdings that was quietly trying to take over Britain's Doncasters Group, a big manufacturer of components for military aircraft.

The final piece in the investment jigsaw, Dubai International Capital, was designed to invest Dubai's fiscal tsunami in hot properties around the world. Some of the cash went into major private equity funds. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the Carlyle Group, J.P. Morgan Securities and the Newbridge/Texas Pacific Group--all became beneficiaries of this largesse over the past two years.