Abu Dhabi names L’Imad board, led by Crown Prince, e& Chief

The government of Abu Dhabi appointed a board of directors chaired by its Crown Prince for L’Imad Holding Co., the investment vehicle backed by the emirate’s sovereign wealth funds that last month joined Paramount’s hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros.

Jassem Al Zaabi,  Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Finance and of telecommunications group e&, was named Managing Director and CEO, according to a government statement issued on Monday. Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, will serve as Chairman.

Board members include Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and CEO of Mubadala Investment Co.; Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, the sovereign fund’s Deputy CEO; and Mohamed Al Shorafa, Chairman of Etihad Airways and of the Abu Dhabi Department of Municipalities and Transport.

L’Imad – jointly owned by Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and ADQ – was formed last year as a state-owned investment vehicle designed to pool capital for large-scale global deal. Its mandate is to invest in industries that include infrastructure, financial services, technology and urban transportation.

The firm is part of the consortium that is backing Paramount Chairman David Ellison’s bid for Warner that includes Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners.

L’Imad first made headlines in October when it bought a $7 billion stake in real estate investor Modon from IHC Real Estate Holding and Alpha Dhabi Holding, both subsidiaries of Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed’s International Holding Co.

Abu Dhabi’s IHC appoints AI bot to its Board of Directors

International Holding Company, the Abu Dhabi-owned industrial conglomerate, announced that it has created a new post on its Board of Directors for an “Artificial Intelligence Observer.”

The virtual entity was developed by G42, the holding company’s fast-growing AI firm, in collaboration with Microsoft, and given the name “Aiden Insight.”

It will use its abilities “to continuously process and instantly analyze decades of business data, financial information, market trends, and global economic indicators,” the company said.

IHC Chairman Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan said appointing Aiden Insight to the Board shows the company’s “commitment to innovation and forward-thinking leadership.”