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Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group
Brothers Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari started the group in 1999 to serve what they call the 'new Dubai,' initially as a trading business that rode the...
Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group
Brothers Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari started the group in 1999 to serve what they call the 'new Dubai,' initially as a trading business that rode the emirate's early-aughts construction wave. The family compound sits inside the City of Arabia master-planned district in Dubailand, a 20-million-square-foot mixed-use parcel that includes the firm's flagship leisure asset and several residential holdings. The Galadari family network also includes the prominent UAE law firm Galadari Advocates & Legal Consultants, founded by Ziad Galadari. The group's deployment concentrates on five operating verticals: leisure, entertainment, trading, services, and manufacturing. Its marquee investment is IMG Worlds of Adventure, a 1.5-million-square-foot indoor theme park on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, wholly owned and operated by the group. Alongside the park, the City of Arabia development holds Wadi Walk residences, Elite Towers, and the Wadi Al Safa 4 villa community. Away from real estate, the group runs Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Cold Stores, a temperature-controlled warehousing business founded in 1999, and GMDC, a government-certified driving institute with over 200 instructors. The family's known passion-asset holdings include a Gemballa MIG-U1 and a Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, both flags in a broader automobile collection. Headquartered in the City of Arabia with no disclosed satellite offices, the organization operates under the dual leadership of Chairman Ilyas Galadari and Vice Chairman Mustafa Galadari. The next generation appears through Abdulwahab Ilyas Galadari, who sits on the group's board and runs his own investment vehicle, AWGAL Investments. The IMG Group carries a mission statement centered on supporting government-led visions, and it marries a profit motive with the philanthropic foundation Caring & Giving. The firm's architecture is structurally uncommon: a commercial holding company that retains family-office economics and a single-family governance DNA. Rather than allocating to external managers, IMG builds and operates its principal assets on its own balance sheet, using the City of Arabia land bank and the theme-park operating business as the ballast of a portfolio that has no disclosed institutional LPs or co-investment partners.
General information
Firm type
Single Family Office
Year founded
1999
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Asia
Country
United Arab Emirates
City
Dubai
Corporate office
City of Arabia, Dubailand, Dubai, UAE
Principals
Ilyas Abdulwahab Galadari
Chairman
Mustafa Abdulwahab Galadari
Vice Chairman and Managing Director
Altss tracks 1 additional named team member for this firm — including direct investment leads, IR, and operating principals not listed on the public website.
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Frequently asked questions
Who makes investment decisions at Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group?
Chairman Ilyas Abdulwahab Galadari and Vice Chairman and Managing Director Mustafa Abdulwahab Galadari oversee strategy together, while board member Abdulwahab Ilyas Galadari represents the next generation. The group functions without a disclosed external investment committee or third-party advisory board structure.
Is IMG Group a single-family office or an operating conglomerate?
It operates as both. The entity is a single-family office at the governance level, yet it develops and runs commercial assets — such as the IMG Worlds of Adventure theme park, the GMDC driving school, and the cold-storage business — on its own operating platform. There is no institutional LP capital on the balance sheet.
What is Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari's flagship real estate holding?
The City of Arabia master development in Dubailand serves as the flagship. Within it, the group directly owns IMG Worlds of Adventure, Wadi Walk residences, Elite Towers, and the Wadi Al Safa 4 villa community.
Does the Galadari Group commit to outside funds or only invest directly?
The group shows no disclosed fund commitments or co-investment partnerships. Every identified asset — the theme park, the logistics subsidiary, the driving institute, and the real estate projects — sits inside the wholly owned operating group.
Which regions does the firm target?
The group's operational footprint is anchored in Dubai, though its confirmed geographic focus per Altss research tags includes the Middle East and Central Asia, Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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