Dubai: The Al Habtoor Group started in construction, but now there is also Habtoor Hotels which owns and operates six premier properties including the Habtoor Grand Resort & Spa in Dubai and the Habtoor Grand Convention Centre & Spa in Beirut.
The group is also the local representative of the Japanese automobile brand Mitsubishi. Al Habtoor Motors imports more than 60,000 vehicles from Japan every year. It has an established network of seven showrooms, eight service centres and 12 parts centres that cover the entire UAE. It also has dealerships for the Bentley, Aston Martin and Bugatti cars.
These and its other ventures raised the group’s turnover to Dh11 billion in 2009 and total assets now exceed Dh18 billion.
Going forward, expansion plans include strategic acquisitions overseas, particularly in the UK, France and in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. The guiding principle of any such initiative “would be to tap organic growth and allow the management to capitalise on core competencies”, says Khalaf Al Habtoor.
A well-delineated succession plan has been put in place across the Al Habtoor empire. While the eldest son, Rashid, runs his own business interests, Mohammad is the CEO of the Al Habtoor Group.
Ahmad is managing the motoring sector interests of the Al Habtoor Group, and daughter Amna, who studied law in Lebanon, is managing the schools.
“Although life today is far easier than the one we experienced, the competition is strong. Our children were born in a very comfortable atmosphere where everything was available to them and at their service, which is not good,” says Khalaf Al Habtoor.
“Thank God my children are on the right track and I taught them how to manage their business, but still you can’t copy yourself in this modern generation and guarantee anything.”
The group’s major projects include the Burj Al Arab, the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai International Airport Shaikh Rashid Terminal and the Madinat Jumeirah. Others are the Ghurair City Centre 2, JAFZA Convention Centre; JW Marriott in Abu Dhabi and the Dubai Tower in Qatar. Al Habtoor has also completed the multi-billion dollar construction of the new Terminal 3 concourse 2 project at Dubai International Airport.
