Dubai’s troubled contractor Arabtec working with US investment bank Moelis

Loss-making Dubai construction firm Arabtec is working with boutique investment bank Moelis to study options for the company’s capital structure, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday.

A mandate for restructuring advisory firm AlixPartners to reduce overheads at Arabtec was completed at the end of last year, the sources said, declining to be named as the information is not public.

The sources said that the study was in its early stages and that Arabtec’s board had not decided on specific action. One of the sources said Moelis was also expected to advise Arabtec on its balance sheet and liquidity ratio.

Arabtec did not respond to requests for comment, while a spokesman for Moelis could not immediately be contacted.

The Gulf construction sector is in a severe slowdown after the slump in oil prices forced governments to rein in spending, compounding internal problems at Arabtec, which has seen several senior management changes in the last few years. Arabtec’s board was to meet later on Sunday to discuss its fourth-quarter results.

The company made a loss attributable to owners of the parent of Dhs225.5m ($61.4m) in the third quarter, compared with a Dhs944.8m loss a year earlier.