History
International Holding Company (IHC) was founded in 1998 as Asmak and was initially active in the fisheries sector. The company quickly developed into a regional market leader in the export of seafood. In 2005, the company went public on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange.[8]
In the years that followed, IHC expanded into various sectors, including real estate, with the acquisition of ESPL properties in 2008. By 2013, IHC had grown significantly.[8]
In 2020, three of its subsidiaries were listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The following year, IHC's growth continued as the company listed more subsidiaries, including Alpha Dhabi, ESG and Al Seer Marine, and became the most valuable company on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange.[8]
IHC continued its expansion in 2022, concluding a US$2 billion investment agreement with the Indian Adani Group and acquiring a significant stake in the renewable energy sector with the purchase of shares of Turkish Kalyon Enerji.[8][9] In September 2023 the IHC sold stakes in the Adani Group, but increased its stake in Adani Enterprises.[10][11]
In November 2023, the Group acquired a majority stake in a copper mine in Zambia for just under one billion US dollars.[12][4]
In 2023, IHC established an investment unit, Lunate, to manage Group 42’s China-focused fund, the 42X Fund, which had stakes in JD.com and ByteDance. Lunate formed a small team controlled by Tahnoun bin Zayed. The fund became questionable due to G42 and its CEO Peng Xiao’s promise to the US government to divest from China.[13][14][15]
In January 2024, IHC established a new holding company with $27 billion in assets called 2PointZero.[16][17] It added to the opaqueness, as it was not published what price IHC had been paying to acquire these assets from Royal Group. IHC at that point represented 30% of the local stock market[18]
The Government of Pakistan divested its majority stake in the state-owned First Women Bank Limited (FWBL) to Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company (IHC) in October 2025. The transaction, reportedly valued at $14.6 million for the government's 82.64% shareholding. As part of the agreement, IHC committed to injecting an additional Rs. 6.8 billion to ensure the bank meets the State Bank of Pakistan's minimum capital requirement of Rs. 10 billion over a five-year period. IHC has announced plans to transform the bank into a modern, AI-enabled financial institution, including modernizing its core banking infrastructure, expanding its branch network from 42 to 200 in the medium term, and rebranding to reflect a broader mandate for financial inclusion across Pakistan. Pakistani officials, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, hailed the deal as a milestone that would strengthen economic ties and pave the way for further foreign direct investment from the UAE.[19][20][21]
