Dubai’s Union Properties to sell Emicool stake

Dubai’d Union Properties has announced it is in the final stages of selling its stake in district cooling service provider Emicool and has acquired a stake in Egypt’s Palm Hills Developments.

Union said it had received several offers for the Emicool stake from UAE-based companies and will announce the buyer in the coming days.

The company provides district cooling for residential, commercial and industrial areas including MotorCity, Dubai Investments Park, Dubai Sports City, Uptown Mirdif, Mirdif Hills, the Palazzo Versace hotel and Damac Hills.

It is seeking to expand operations capacity to more than 500,000 metric tonnes of cooling by 2020, according to the announcement.

In 2016 Union’s 50 per cent stake was valued at Dhs355m ($97m), according to the company’s annual report.

The other half of Emicool is owned by Dubai Investments.

Union’s group CEO Ahmed Yousef Khouri said the company planned to use the funds from the sale to diversify its revenues, expand its business and venture into new markets.

“At a time when Union Properties is undergoing a new phase of growth, this move further strengthens our focus on core operations, and tapping into new sectors,” he added.

Union also said it had acquired a 5.68 per cent stake in Egypt’s Palm Hills Developments through its UPP Capital Investment unit.

Palm Hills is an Egypt and London-listed developer with 26 projects spanning 27 million square metres in Egypt and 5 million square metres in Saudi Arabia, according to its website.

These include homes to the east and west of Cairo and on the Mediterranean Sea.

In September, Union unveiled a new Dhs8bn ($2.18bn) master plan for its MotorCity development in Dubai and signed a construction deal with China State Construction Engineering Corporation

It also launched two new subsidiaries focussing on retail and leisure operations and hospitality that will initially manage a 100,000-square-metre mall and 3,000 serviced apartments and 3,500 hotel rooms respectively at the projct.

The overall MotorCity development also includes 11,5000 residential units, 46,000 square metres of retail space and more than 300,000 square metres of office space.

Read: Dubai’s Union Properties announces new mall, hotels as part of $2bn MotorCity project