Dubai: New York-based investment bank and financial public relations firm Wall Street Organisation (WSO) said it was moving its headquarters to Dubai to help companies and individuals in the UAE gain access to American money and technology.
While the Gulf region remains a net exporter of capital and hundreds of billions of dollars of Arab funds are invested in US assets, WSO believes opportunities exist in the UAE that can create a reverse flow of money into the region.
"We will become a vehicle that UAE companies can use to raise capital in the US. We have a 250,000-strong accredited investor database that includes 1,000 institutional investors," WSO president Stephen Cole told Gulf News yesterday.
Alternative energy, automobile and film entertainment are among the areas that the organisation has identified for its projects in the UAE. Cole said WSO can raise up to $2 billion for investments in solar energy projects in the country.
"We are going to get US companies in this business and help them in developing joint ventures with UAE partners," he said.
WSO is also looking at possibilities of setting up a $20-million facility to make "super exotic cars". To be named Dubai 1 and Dubai 2, the cars will carry a price tag of $150,000.
Cole said the company wants to move its offices to the city because "Dubai is a much more fertile ground for what we do."
"Dubai is becoming the epicentre of global financial business. Here they are doing things bigger and better than America," he added.
The company has held talks with some influential individuals in the Gulf to turn these plans into viable business ventures.
Cole hopes that by facilitating movement of US capital and know-how to the UAE, his company would create new Arab-US linkages, away form the "politics of war and the long-distance relationship of anti-Arab media coverage."
WSO hopes to create awareness among key members of the US financial community and make them interested in doing business in the UAE. "We want to bring brokerages, securities dealers, financial institutions and financial public relations companies to Dubai," Cole said.
Having spent several years in Hollywood's entertainment industry, he also sees an opportunity to market Dubai's attractions to film and television producers in the US.
According to Farid Al Shabbar, WSO's Middle East operations director, the company's current focus remains on Dubai. But the company has shown interest in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Investment bank aims to create new Arab-US linkages in raising capital
