Hussain Sajwani, the head of Damac Group. — Bloomberg
SINCE Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, Hussain Sajwani, the head of Damac Group, has wanted the world to know he was the US president’s man in the Middle East.
The real estate billionaire thrust himself into the spotlight again on Tuesday, standing alongside the president-elect and promising an investment of at least US$20bil to build new US data centres.
The details of how Sajwani – whose net worth has surged in recent years to about US$13bil, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index – will finance such an undertaking weren’t immediately apparent. But what’s clear is that the 71-year-old developer is looking to capitalise on a relationship that dates back a decade, when the two partnered on luxury golf courses in Dubai.
“The investment will support massive new data centres across the Midwest, the Sun Belt area, and also to keep America on the cutting edge of technology and artificial intelligence,” Trump said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Sajwani, who has described himself in press releases as “Trump’s Middle Eastern business partner”, said that his company would invest more than US$20bil “if the opportunity, the market, allow us”.
Trump said the deal’s first phase would span Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana, painting it as critical to keeping the United States competitive in emerging technologies.
He vowed to help move it quickly through the environmental and permitting process and cast it as the result of his election victory.
Business leaders – domestic and foreign – have sought to court Trump as he prepares to take office on Jan 20, including visiting him at Mar-a-Lago and donating to his inauguration fund.
During a press conference in December, Trump announced another major investment – a pledge from SoftBank Group Corp to invest US$100bil in the United States over the next four years – alongside the company’s chief executive officer, Masayoshi Son.
Trump has pledged to use tariffs and tax policy to encourage foreign companies to invest in the United States. — Bloomberg
Stephanie Lai writes for Bloomberg. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.
