December 4, 2013

Dubai property developer Damac priced its London offering of Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) at $12.25 (Dhs45) per share on Tuesday, raising $348 million (Dhs1.277 billion) and valuing the company at $2.65 billion (Dhs9.72 billion).

The offering size could increase to $400 million if a 15 per cent greenshoe or over-allotment option is exercised, the company said in a bourse filing. Should this option be activated 15 per cent of the company would be listed.

The luxury housing firm initially set a price range of $12.25-17.25 per GDR on November 14, with the aim of raising $500 million, before narrowing the range to $12.25-13.25 and reducing the amount it was looking to raise last week.

A GDR is a certificate that represents a block of shares in a company. GDRs are often...

November 26, 2013

Dubai and Lyon are strengthening business ties with increased bilateral investments, particularly in the real estate sector, said a senior official.

Jacques de Chilly, Executive Director of Invest in Lyon, said investments from UAE to Lyon have largely focused on real estate sector.

“Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) invested over 300 million euros (Dh1.5 billion) last year in commercial real estate in Lyon and we expect this investment to expand this year; it’s a significant investment for Lyon from Abu Dhabi. Also few private companies from Dubai and Abu Dhabi export goods to Lyon region,” he said, adding that “Lyon’s exports to UAE totalled over 300m euros while imports from the emirates reached 70m euros. It’s not a balanced relationship...

November 24, 2013

Abdulla Ali Al Hamli, chairman of the fund manager to Emirates Reit, said the acquisition leaseback deal was a “win-win” for both parties.

Emirates Reit, the first UAE-regulated real estate investment trust, has acquired a long leasehold interest in a school campus in Dubai from Gems Education in an acquisition leaseback deal, raising Emirates Reit’s assets to eight properties now valued at over Dh1.1 billion.

Following the transaction, Emirates Reit will own the facilities and related assets of the"...

November 21, 2013

Yardi, a leading developer of software solutions for the real estate investment, asset and property management industry, has been selected by Capstone Property Services (Capstone) to deploy Yardi Voyager® for its commercial and residential property management solution.

“What we particularly like is that Yardi offers a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that will allow us to implement a new platform quickly with less cost. Voyager will help us enhance the services we provide our customers without the headache of managing internally hosted technology systems,” states Anthony Awkar, general manager at Capstone.

Yardi"......

November 20, 2013

Average house prices in Dubai are now approximately AED2 million higher on average than in Abu Dhabi, reveals propertyfinder.ae.

The observation has been based on live market statistics from market price live – propertyfinder.ae’s data centre – and reflects the steadily increasing property prices in Dubai and the broad recovery that the emirate’s market continues to experience this year.

“Average asking rates in Dubai stand at AED5.1m today, while those in the capital are at AED3.3m. While Abu Dhabi’s property prices have increased"...

November 20, 2013

Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi’s largest property developer, has hired five banks to arrange the sale of a benchmark-sized Islamic bond, or sukuk, to refinance debt, three banking sources aware of the matter said.

The proposed bond sale would be Aldar’s first since it completed its Abu Dhabi government-backed merger with Sorouh Real Estate in June to create the second-largest listed property firm in the United Arab Emirates and one of the biggest in the Middle East, with assets of $13 billion.

The majority state-owned firm has hired National Bank of Abu Dhabi, First Gulf Bank Dubai Islamic Bank, Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs Inc, the sources said, requesting anonymity because the information is not yet public.

Aldar plans to issue the sukuk before year-end,...

November 11, 2013

Kumar Properties, India’s leading Real Estate and Infrastructure Development Company, today announced the launch of ‘SANCTUM’, a luxury residence project of 144 homes, introduced under the brand of Privie Residences. It is slated for completion by 2017.

Nestled within the prestigious gated community of Ivory Estate, Baner - Pune, SANCTUM is located within a five-minute drive from Pune University.

Sanctum consists of 4 towers, of 21 stories each, with 3 & 4 bedroom homes (2850 sq. feet & 3995 sq. ft) Each tower has its own private lobby"...