Abu Dhabi National Energy (TAQA), the United Arab Emirates state-owned oil exploration company, sold its 7 percent share of Tesla Motors. TAQA made a tidy $113 million profit and then made its portfolio a tad less diverse by investing the money in a northern Iraq power plant.
TAQA took advantage of Tesla’s recent stock rally, the value of which has doubled since the energy company received the automaker’s shares. The high end electric vehicle manufacturer says it is on target to reach profitability next year, but nevertheless TAQA had decided Tesla was not a core investment.
For TAQA and Abu Dhabi, the
stock’s sale was a very quick buck. TAQA had only had the 7 million shares of stock, which was 7 percent of Tesla’s equity, since December 2010. But for Abu Dhabi, which has 94 percent of the UAE’s oil reserves and manages over half of the country’s GDP, the future for now is investing in
energy projects throughout the Middle East. The emirate is not exactly exiting its investments in the automobile industry, however; it is still the
largest shareholder in Daimler via one of its sovereign wealth funds.
Observers who
wonder if this is a sign that the UAE and other Gulf countries are not confident about clean technology and clean energy investments are reading too much in this relatively small transaction. Abu Dhabi is still moving forward on its
Masdar City complex, a futuristic zero-carbon and zero-waste city to which Siemens will relocate its Middle East headquarters. A $600 million
solar power plant is due to launch later this year. Nearby, glitzy Dubai is mulling the
purchase of solar from panels installed on the city’s office buildings and houses. With nearby Qatar investing in everything from solar to
smart grid technologies and even Saudi Arabia building
LEED-certified projects, the future of green technology and renewable energy in the Middle East, quite counterintuitively considering the importance of the region’s oil and gas sector, is still bright.
Meanwhile Tesla surges ahead with
new models and
new showrooms.
Published earlier this morning on Triple Pundit.
Photo courtesy Wikipedia (
Tumbenhaur).
About The Author
Leon Kaye
Leon Kaye is the founder and editor of GreenGoPost.com and its advisory division,
GGP Media.
Contact him to discuss how he can work with your organization or event.
His focus is making the business case for sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
He writes for San Francisco-based
Triple Pundit,
Inhabitat and now
The Guardian, for which he writes about corporate responsibility, water, and green building. He has also written for AIA's
Architect Magazine.
Leon works out of Fresno and Silicon Valley, California, and when he has free time, he enjoys hiking, gardening, cooking, weightlifting, and planning his next trip to one of the 60 countries he has visited. He has an MBA from USC's Marshall School of Business and is also a proud graduate of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) and Cal State-Fresno.
Abu Dhabi National Energy (TAQA), the United Arab Emirates state-owned oil exploration company, sold its 7 percent share of Tesla Motors. TAQA made a tidy $113 million profit and then made its portfolio a tad less diverse by investing the money in a northern Iraq power plant.
TAQA took advantage of Tesla’s recent stock rally, the value of which has doubled since the energy company received the automaker’s shares. The high end electric vehicle manufacturer says it is on target to reach profitability next year, but nevertheless TAQA had decided Tesla was not a core investment.
For TAQA and Abu Dhabi, the stock’s sale was a very quick buck. TAQA had only had the 7 million shares of stock, which was 7 percent of Tesla’s equity, since December 2010. But for Abu Dhabi, which has 94 percent of the UAE’s oil reserves and manages over half of the country’s GDP, the future for now is investing in energy projects throughout the Middle East. The emirate is not exactly exiting its investments in the automobile industry, however; it is still the largest shareholder in Daimler via one of its sovereign wealth funds.
Observers who wonder if this is a sign that the UAE and other Gulf countries are not confident about clean technology and clean energy investments are reading too much in this relatively small transaction. Abu Dhabi is still moving forward on its Masdar City complex, a futuristic zero-carbon and zero-waste city to which Siemens will relocate its Middle East headquarters. A $600 million solar power plant is due to launch later this year. Nearby, glitzy Dubai is mulling the purchase of solar from panels installed on the city’s office buildings and houses. With nearby Qatar investing in everything from solar to smart grid technologies and even Saudi Arabia building LEED-certified projects, the future of green technology and renewable energy in the Middle East, quite counterintuitively considering the importance of the region’s oil and gas sector, is still bright.
Meanwhile Tesla surges ahead with new models and new showrooms.
Published earlier this morning on Triple Pundit.
Photo courtesy Wikipedia (Tumbenhaur).
