The families in the Gulf who dominate the region’s boardrooms have been revealed and ranked for the first time, UAE-based banking group The National Investor (TNI) said on Monday.
TNI said in a report analysing the boardrooms of more than 500 companies in the GCC that it had ranked the families in the six main GCC countries, including in both the emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
“GCC families hold on average between 19% and 30% of company board seats,” said TNI in its report, ‘Power Matter: A Survey of GCC Boards’.
“It is no secret that the economic landscape in the GCC is controlled by families – it is enlightening to realise numerically the extent of such domination.”
TNI said Power Matters is the first-ever research report of 582 companies in the GCC, with 3,493 individuals occupying 4,254 board seats of listed companies in the Gulf.
The publication aims to identify some of the key trends in the boardrooms of the Gulf, particularly board composition, the participation of women in boards, and the role of families on boards.
TNI in ranking the most powerful families in the GCC chose to define a family as a collection of individuals from the same country with the same surname, and “power” as the economic influence derived from being represented on a listed company board.
Families with the largest number of seats are then ranked as the most powerful. For each market, TNI listed the unweighted rankings, representing the greatest number of board seats held. It then also provided a list of rankings weighted by the market value of the board seats held according to February 25 of this year.
Abu Dhabi, Top 10 Families (Unweighted): Qassimi, Dhaheri, Mazroei, Qubaisi, Suwaidi, Khoury, Rumaithi, Muhairi, Shamsi and Hosani.
Abu Dhabi, Top 10 Families (Weighted by market value) Suwaidi, Dhaheri, Hajeri, Qassimi, Nahyan (rulers), Otaiba, Mazrouei, Omran, Rostomani, Sayegh.
Bahrain, Top 10 Families (Unweighted): Fakhro, Kanoo, Moayyed, Khalifa (rulers), Amin, Buhindi, Jalal, Murad, Nass, Sabah.
Bahrain, Top 10 Families (Weighted by market value) Mashani, Mazrouq, Meer, Faivre, Harthy, Khalili, Murshidi, Razak, Yahyai.
Dubai, Top 10 Families (Unweighted): Ghurair, Mulla, Futtaim, Sari, Jallaf, Kazim, Lootah, Mazrouei, Shamsi, Maktoum (rulers).
Dubai, Top 10 Families (Weighted by market value) Ghurair, Shamsi, Lootah, Shaibani, Ba’alawy, Alabbar, Matrooshi, Belhoul, Jawa, Mohannadi.
Kuwait, Top 10 Families (Unweighted): Sabah (rulers), Ghanim, Kharafi, Wazzan, Sultan, Behbahani, Bahar, Mazrouk, Shaya, Mutawa.
Dubai, Top 10 Families (Weighted by market value) Kharafi, Sabah (rulers), Bahar, Rashed, Behbahani, Fulaij, Ghanim, Marafi, Sultan, Nafisi.
Omani, Top 10 Families (Unweighted): Shanfari, Rawas, Sultan, Lawati, Mashani, Busaidi (rulers), Harthy, Saleh, Zawawi, Hassan.
Omani, Top 10 Families (Weighted by market value) Harthy, Mashani, Zadjali, Razak, Yahyai, Khalili, Faivre, Murshidi, Abduwani, Nahari.
Qatar, Top 10 Families (Unweighted): Thani (rulers), Mana, Attiya, Saad, Ali, Naimi, Mannai, Mohannadi, Ansari, Sulaiti.
Qatar, Top 10 Families (Weighted by market value) Thani (rulers), Mohannadi, Attiya, Suwaidi, Kamal, Ibrahim, Salat, Mana, Hitmi, Fardan.
Saudi Arabia, Top 10 Families (Unweighted): Rajhi, Issa, Zamil, Rashid, Saleh, Babtain, Subaei, Turki, Agil, Drees.
Saudi Arabia, Top 10 Families (Weighted by market value) Rajdhi, Issa, Mady, Saud (rulers), Abanumay, Faris, Hakami, Husseini, Omran, Rashid.
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