Arabtec Nominates Aabar Execs To Board

Dubai builder Arabtec has nominated four executives from investment firm and top shareholder Aabar to its board, it said on Thursday, a further sign of the Abu Dhabi state fund’s growing influence in the company.

Aabar’s chairman Kadem Abdulla al-Qubaisi and CEO Mohammed Ahmed al-Husseiny were among executives included in the list of board member nominees, the company said in a regulatory filing on the Dubai bourse.

Sovereign fund Aabar, which owns stakes in high-profile names such as German carmaker Daimler, commodities trader Glencore and Italy’s UniCredit, raised its Arabtec stake to 10.45 per cent this month, just weeks after boosting its holding to 5.3 per cent in early March.

The move made Aabar the largest shareholder and analysts have said the fund may increase its stake further in the Dubai builder.

The board recommendations have to be approved by the shareholders at the annual general meeting on April 28, the contractor said.

Only three members from the current board has been retained, which includes the Arabtec’s CEO Riad Kamal.

Shares in Arabtec – which Aabar unsuccessfully tried to buy two years ago in a $1.7 billion deal for a 70-per cent stake — has climbed by 115 per cent this year.