Dubai Investments to close $300m loan by year-end

Dubai Investments, part owned by sovereign wealth fund Investment Corp of Dubai, plans to close a Dhs1.1bn ($299.52m) loan by December 31, its chief executive said on Saturday.

United Arab Emirates banks First Gulf Bank (FGB) and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank have been mandated for the loan, Khalid Bin Kalban told reporters in Dubai.

The loan will be used to build a residential project in Dubai’s Mirdif neighbourhood located near the world’s busiest airport for international travel, Dubai International.

Bin Kalban said the company would not take the entire loan, which is to be delivered in tranches, if off-plan sales of the project meet expectations. Sales launched on Saturday.

He also said there are plans to list 30 per cent of Dubai-based Emirates District Cooling (Emicool), a joint venture between Dubai Investments and Union Properties, on the Dubai bourse next year.

Bin Kalban is also chairman of Union Properties.

The listing, expected to raise $200 million, would only go ahead if market conditions improved, he said, adding that plans to list this year were cancelled.

Dubai Investments is also planning to build and operate business parks in Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Angola.

A joint-venture project to build a business park valued at Dhs600m in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, is expected to break ground in the next month, Bin Kalban said.

A similar project is planned for the Angolan capital Luanda and Morocco’s Tangier, he said.

Dubai Investments will go into Angola on its own, whilst would consider a joint venture in Morocco, Bin Kalban said.

The three projects would be similar to a 23 square kilometre business park the company owns and operates in Dubai.