Shaher Awartani: A Multi-Sector Investment Record Across the UAE and Beyond
Few business figures in the UAE have built a portfolio that spans construction, real estate, private equity, hospitality, healthcare, and regulated investment advisory — all within the same professional career. Shaher Awartani is one of them. Over three decades in the region, he has co-founded and co-invested in enterprises across multiple sectors, working alongside some of the most recognized names in Gulf business and government. The range is notable. But what distinguishes the record is the consistency of the partnerships and the caliber of the institutional co-investors involved at each stage.
Laying the Groundwork: Silver Coast Construction & Boring LLC
Shaher Awartani’s investment career began not in a financial center but on construction sites across Abu Dhabi. In 1997, he co-founded Silver Coast Construction & Boring LLC, an Abu Dhabi-based construction company that would go on to execute and complete projects valued at USD 1.35 billion across the UAE. At peak operations, the company employed up to 4,500 people.
Building a construction business of that scale in the UAE required operating acumen and sustained commitment to project delivery. Silver Coast became the professional base from which he expanded into adjacent and new sectors — each move informed by the operational credibility established through the construction business.
Private Equity and Capital Markets: Equalis Capital and Global Gate
In 2013, he co-founded Equalis Capital Ltd, a proprietary investment company registered in the Dubai International Financial Centre, alongside H.E. Yousif Al Otaiba. The DIFC registration placed Equalis within one of the world’s most rigorously regulated financial ecosystems, signaling the intent to operate at institutional standards.
Two years later, in 2015, the professional was invited by Global Gate Capital Partners — an investment firm headquartered in Geneva — to become a shareholder and member of its Board of Directors. Global Gate Capital Partners manages more than USD 2 billion in assets under management across multiple asset classes, with a focus on real estate and private equity through its group of companies. The invitation to join at the board level reflects the professional standing he had established by that point in the market.
Real Estate Development: High Point Real Estate LLC
In 2017, he co-founded High Point Real Estate LLC in Dubai alongside H.E. Yousif Al Otaiba, H.E. Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, and Mr. Ahmed Ismail Bashee. The company developed and owns two residential assets in Dubai with a combined value of USD 100 million.
High Point represents a deliberate extension of his engagement with real estate — shifting from project execution through Silver Coast to direct asset ownership and residential development. The structure of the partnership, which includes institutional-grade co-investors, reflects the approach he has applied consistently across ventures: build with credible principals and hold assets for long-term value.
Hospitality: Café Milano Abu Dhabi
Also in 2017, he became a co-founder of Café Milano Abu Dhabi, the exclusive outpost of the acclaimed Washington, D.C. institution, located within the Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi. The Abu Dhabi location is the only branch of Café Milano outside Washington, D.C., making it a distinctive hospitality asset in the UAE capital.
The partnership behind Café Milano Abu Dhabi includes H.E. Yousef Al Otaiba and Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund. The venture represents his extension into the hospitality sector, adding a consumer-facing dimension to a portfolio predominantly built on infrastructure and financial assets.
Healthcare Investment: Reem Hospital Abu Dhabi
In 2020, he and his partners — Yousef Al Otaiba and the Bashee family — became substantial shareholders in Reem Hospital Abu Dhabi. The healthcare investment brought Shaher Awartani into partnership with InvestCorp of Bahrain, with Mubadala Investment Company holding a 25% stake, and Wisayah Capital — a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco — also involved as a co-investor.
The Reem Hospital transaction placed Shaher Awartani alongside some of the Gulf region’s most prominent institutional investors in the healthcare sector. It also reflected a broader pattern in his investment activity: co-investing in regulated, asset-backed businesses with strong institutional participation.
Regulated Advisory: Yasa Capital (DIFC) Limited
In 2024, he co-founded Yasa Capital (DIFC) Limited, an investment and advisory company regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority as a Category 4 entity. The DFSA license represents the most recent formal addition to his investment portfolio — one that adds a regulated advisory platform to his holdings across construction, real estate, private equity, hospitality, and healthcare.
Category 4 regulation under the DFSA governs firms that provide investment advisory and arranging services without holding client funds. Establishing a DFSA-regulated entity signals a long-term commitment to operating within formal financial market frameworks in the UAE.
The Logic Behind a Diversified Record
A review of Shaher Awartani’s investment history reveals a coherent pattern beneath the apparent diversity. Each venture has been built in partnership with institutional-grade co-investors. Each has operated within regulated or professionally structured frameworks. Each reflects a long investment horizon rather than a focus on near-term returns.
From Abu Dhabi construction in 1997 to DFSA-regulated advisory in 2024, the record spans nearly three decades and multiple sectors — but the underlying investment discipline has remained consistent. That consistency, more than any single venture, is what defines Shaher Awartani’s standing as a business figure in the UAE and across the broader regional market.
A Philanthropic Dimension
Alongside his business activities, Shaher Awartani has maintained a private scholarship program since 2015, supporting individuals in pursuit of education. He has also made contributions to healthcare institutions, including the Children’s National Medical Center at the Sheikh Zayed Campus for Advanced Pediatric Medicine in Washington, D.C. These commitments, maintained privately and consistently, represent a dimension of his activity that runs parallel to the business record.
A Career Built Across Sectors, Grounded in One Market
Shaher Awartani’s professional career is rooted in the UAE — specifically Abu Dhabi, where Silver Coast Construction & Boring LLC has operated since 1997. The investments that followed — in Dubai real estate, Geneva-based private equity, regulated advisory, hospitality, and healthcare — were extensions outward from that base, not departures from it.
The result is a multi-sector record that is firmly anchored in the UAE market while connected to institutional partners and regulated frameworks across the region and beyond.
About Shaher Awartani
Shaher Moh’d Ali Awartani is the Chairman and Co-founding Partner of Silver Coast Construction & Boring LLC, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. His portfolio of co-founded and co-invested enterprises includes Equalis Capital Ltd (DIFC), High Point Real Estate LLC, Café Milano Abu Dhabi, Reem Hospital Abu Dhabi, Global Gate Capital Partners (Board Member), Yasa Capital (DIFC) Limited, and Abaad Wood Industries. Shaher Awartani holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from the University of Toledo and completed his secondary education at Queen’s College Taunton, Somerset, United Kingdom.
