Success stories of Palestinian achievers from all over the world

Khaled Abu Suud

Sector : Business, Businessmen

Personal Info

  • Country of residence: Kuwait
  • Gender: Male
  • Born in: 1945
  • Age: 71
  • Curriculum vitae :

Information

He is is the longtime financial adviser to the ruler and the crown prince of Kuwait.

The man behind the kingdom's high-performing $80 billion portfolio is Khaled Abu Suud, a mild-mannered, scholarly Palestinian who long ago was given the rare honor of Kuwaiti citizenship. Says he: ''We were ahead of the other Arab states by 25 years in the technology of investment.'' Abu Suud grew up in a stone house near the Dome of the Rock, the mosque built atop the site of the ancient Hebrew temple in Jerusalem. He went to Cairo in 1948 after his brother was killed in a skirmish with the Israelis. Egypt was offering free college tuition to Palestinians.

He graduated from Cairo University's business school and migrated to Kuwait to teach. In 1956 he joined what is now the ministry of finance and shortly began working out the investment plan that has changed little since then. After his boss, finance minister Jabir al-Sabah, became Kuwait's Emir in 1978, Abu Suud followed him to the palace as financial adviser. Kuwait spreads its holdings across all the world's major markets. It also invests for the long term, favoring companies -- and countries -- that are rich in such tangible assets as oil, minerals, and prime real estate. Among his biggest coups: paying some $350 million in 1974 for a stake in West German automaker Daimler-Benz that is now worth more than $2.5 billion. When the shares of newly privatized British Petroleum drifted below the offering price, Kuwait bought $5.2 billion worth for a profit of $700 million 18 months later. Something like a modest civil servant, Abu Suud lives in an unpretentious suburban house. His main luxury is cars. Crowding the driveway are a Cadillac, a Mercedes, and a BMW. He occasionally plays the Arab card game basrah, but % loses interest after 15 minutes.

His passion is the intellectual challenge of money management. Financial journals are his favorite bedtime reading. He's even passed his love for investing to his children. Three are working as money managers. ''My son who went to Wharton sees me as old-fashioned,'' says Abu Suud. ''I admit he's highly educated. But he needs more practice.'' The chip might practice listening to the old block.


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