DUBAI // More than a dozen traders at Al Aweer's Fruits and Vegetable Market say they are facing massive financial losses after a businessman who owed them "millions" allegedly absconded.
The owner of Orange Line food store, Mohammed Ashraf from India, bought fruit and vegetables from the traders to export to GCC countries but has not been seen since last Saturday, the traders claim.
"There is no protection for traders in the Al Aweer market," said a businessman who allegedly lost Dh88,000. "This is the second time that I am facing this kind of situation. Last year, also, one trader ran away without paying me the amount due."
The Fruit and Vegetable Market, located on Emirates Road near Dubai International City, houses more than 250 stalls.
Abdul Jaleel, the owner of Dubai-based Pan Viet Foodstuff company, said he supplied fruits and vegetables worth Dh200,000 to Orange Line.
"The company has been closed since Saturday and no employee is in the office. All the phones are switched off and there is no trace of the owner," he said. "At least 15 businessmen are affected because of the closing of the company."
The National tried to contact Mr Ashraf on his mobile and on his office lines, but his mobile was switched off and his office phones went unanswered. A trip to his offices on Monday yielded no results either: the doors were firmly locked and the office was empty.
A businessman from Farzana Trading, a UAE-based import company among those affected, said that Mr Ashraf owed them Dh600,000. "He bought fruits and vegetables from us and did not pay. We tried calling his home in India but there has been no response," he said.
He said they filed a complaint at Rashidiya Police Station and sought the help of Interpol to catch the culprit. "He used to purchase goods from Indian and Chinese businessmen to export. Everyone is facing a loss."
Police did not confirm or deny the incident but said the traders should contact the CID.
None of Mr Ashraf's 30 employees is traceable, according to a Farzana Trading employee. "It is traders like us who are in loss because of the attitude of some businessman. They rent the shop to do business and if some problem happens, they close and run away."
A second staff member at Farzana Trading said they had suspected Mr Ashraf would run away and were dealing with him carefully.
"He was buying too much stuff suddenly, creating doubts whether he would stay or run away. We advised our staff members to be careful while dealing with him."
Mr Jaleel said he would wait awhile longer before approaching the police. "He used to export food to Kuwait, Saudi and Qatar. We heard he had absconded to Kuwait but we are not sure about it. A lot of businessman of Iranian and Chinese origin are badly affected."
Jayapalan Nair, the owner of Dubai-based fruit importers South Link International Foodstuff, said he lost Dh125,000 due to the closing of the company. "I am facing a big loss. All the cheques bounced and there is no information about the man."
He said traders are discussing among themselves what to do next and how to get back the money. "There seems to be no scope of getting back our money. We don't know where the man is hiding," he said. "Small businessmen who dealt with him are the worst affected."
A businessman who preferred to remain anonymous, but who claimed he'd lost close to Dh100,000, said: "Traders should sit together and work out a plan to prevent such situations, otherwise more incidents will happen in future. A lot of traders in Al Aweer market are illiterate and do not understand the rules. The authorities should step in with stricter rules and regulations."
frahman@thenational.ae
Additional reporting by Wafa Issa
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE BIO
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Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
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Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
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Company name: Overwrite.ai
Founder: Ayman Alashkar
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Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai
Sector: PropTech
Initial investment: Self-funded by founder
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Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
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On sale: Available for preorder now
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
