Hasan Abdullah Ismaik (Arabic: ÃÂóàùèïçÃÂÃÂàÃ¥óàÃÂÃÂ) is an Emirati businessman and Chairman of Hasan Abdullah Mohammed Ismail Capital (HAMIC Group), a UAE-based group of investment companies founded by Ismaik in 2006. He owns HAMIC Group, a private investment company in the United Arab Emirates with a diversified investment portfolio that includes projects worth US$4 billion. He is the Chairman of Al-Ashmal Real-Estate Investment Co. in Jordan; and chairman of publicly listed Masaken for Land and Industrial Development Projects (Masaken Capital). In 2014, Forbes Magazine listed Ismaik as the third-youngest billionaire in the Middle East.
Ismaik was born in Kuwait in 1977 and holds a BA in Business Administration from Al-Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad.
Ismaik launched his career as a real estate entrepreneur in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with a specific interest in the oil and gas sectors. Following the introduction of the freehold property law that sparked the real estate boom in Dubai, he transferred his business focus to the UAE market where he continued to gain commercial achievements.
He pushed plans to diversify his investment portfolio and explored new investment and asset acquisition opportunities in industries as diverse as energy, real estate, construction, transportation, retail and architectural design services. In 2006, Ismaik founded HAMIC Group, an Abu Dhabi-based group of investment companies. In addition to HAMIC Group, Ismaik has commercial interest in a wide range of industries including real estate, retail, and architectural design services, among others, across the United Arab Emirates, GCC Europe and the Middle East.
HAMIC Group includes the following subsidiary companies:
Al Manara International Jewellery: Successfully Exited, one of the retailers of watches and jewellery in the United Arab Emirates. Established in 1973, Al Manara International Jewellery was acquired by HAMG in partnership with Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons. It boasts the largest portfolio of finest Swiss watch and jewellery brands across a network of fourteen luxury boutiques in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. Having built a reputation as one of Abu Dhabi's premier retailers of luxury watches and jewellery, Al Manara operates a broad range of renowned brands including Patek Philippe, Breitling, Chopard, Audemars Piguet, Piaget, Dior, Baume & Mercier, Hublot, and Tag Heuer. The company's revenues doubled, and expanded its operations by opening 12 branches in Abu Dhabi.
In June 2013, the board of directors of Depa Limited, one of the world's leading interior contracting companies, appointed Ismaik as its new chairman. His appointment followed a strong performance by the company across its diverse and robust project catalogue in the first quarter of the year, when the company's revenue increased by 18 percent to AED446 million. In March 2014, he signed an MOU with the Egyptian armed forces to build one million houses in Egypt. The project, one of the biggest in the region, aimed to provide housing for lower income individuals.
The company's key investments in Jordan include the Al-Haytham commercial complex, Masaken Academy, in addition to land ownership in various regions throughout the kingdom.
In June 2011, Ismaik bought 60 percent, an investment of â¬18 million ($25.8 million) of TSV 1860 Munich, a German sports club based in Munich that plays in the 3. Liga. Becoming the first Arab to acquire shares of a German football club, Ismaik claimed that his aim was to safeguard the survival of the club that was one of the founding members of the German national Bundesliga. Due to DFL regulations, Ismaik only has 49 percent of the voting rights; the additional shares are without voting rights.
Ismaik commented on the acquisition:
Ismaik built a number of places of worship in Jordan and the Emirates, most notably the Al-Aziz Mosque in Reem Island, Abu Dhabi, and the Al-Kareem Mosque in Abu Dhabi opposite the Emirates Palace. Both mosques are prominent landmarks in Abu Dhabi. Through the Al-Baraka Charitable Society, which he founded, and in cooperation with the Zakat Fund and the Red Crescent, Ismaik supports the poor and needy in Jordan, in addition to educating a large number of high-achieving students from underprivileged families and sponsoring orphans in Jordan and other countries in the Middle East.