Dubai’s Drake & Scull denies legal case from Saudi developer

Dubai-based builder Drake & Scull International has denied reports that there is an on-going legal case between it and Saudi Arabia’s Lamar Investment and Real Estate.

Earlier this month, Saudi Gazette cited officials at Lamar as saying they were filing a SAR200m ($53.3m) lawsuit due to delays to a residential project on Jeddah’s Corniche.

Read: Dubai’s Drake & Scull says hopes to resolve Lamar dispute

The publication reported that only 38 per cent of work at the site was complete, falling well short of the 80 per cent scheduled to meet a hand over target of May 2017.

But in a bourse filing, Drake & Scull said, “there are no ongoing legal cases” between the two companies.

The company also argued it had signed on to complete Lamar Towers in 2013, six years after the project commenced, as a co-investor and partner in good faith “despite the chequered and troubled history of the project”.

It said the development, launched in 2007, had witnessed multiple starts and stops with other contractors prior to its involvement due to a lack of funding and harmony between Lamar and the builders.

Drake & scull reiterated it had continued to negotiate with Lamar regarding the project to settle “outstanding financial issues” and collect its receivables of the completed and unpaid work.

The firm previously confirmed the project, in which it is a 20 per cent equity shareholder, has been removed from its order backlog and it had made provisions for the financial impact in its books.

Earlier this week, Drake & Scull appointed Wael Allan as its new chief executive, replacing Khaldoun Tabari.

Read: Dubai builder Drake & Scull appoints new CEO