As chief investment officer of Aabar, Brandt Mowry - who previously worked at Virgin, Exxon and PepsiCo - is likely to remain in the headlines.

Aabar Investments (formerly known as Aabar Petroleum) is a global investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi government. Headquartered in the emirate, it is, for the time being at least, a public joint stock company listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. However, regulators are currently deliberating on whether to let the company delist.

Founded in 2005, Aabar has made a name for itself very quickly with some flashy investments and headline making deals. It snapped up 9.1 percent stake of car-giant Daimler - the leading producer of Mecedes Benz - making it the biggest shareholder.

It also has a 32 percent stake in Virgin Galactic, Sir Richard Branson's space tourism project, and in November it was officially announced that Aabar in partnership with Daimler had purchased a 75.1% stake in Brawn GP, the Formula 1 racing team.

Earlier this year a plan for Aabar to take a controlling stake in Gulf construction giant Arabtec fell through. The two companies have said they will nonetheless work closely in coming years.