Dubai's Limitless to pay Dh2bn to creditors, nears debt plan approval

Dubai real estate developer Limitless said on Monday it would repay Dh2.07 billion ($564 million) to creditors and has won the approval of almost 90 per cent of banks to extend its remaining debt to December 2018.

Limitless will fund repayment, equivalent to 42 per cent of its Dh4.45 billion total debt pile, by selling half its land bank in Saudi Arabia for Dh2.07 billion to Saudi Real Estate Company, said Limitless chairman Ali Rashid Lootah told a press conference.

Under the latest deal, it will repay Dh1.9 billion in bank debt, including an early payment of Dh411 million not due until December, and a further Dh176 million to trade creditors.

In return, Limitless is asking its 18 creditor banks to agree to extend its debt by two years to December 2018. The company is hoping to secure agreement from the remaining 10 per cent of creditors for its plans "very quickly", said Lootah.

"We are asking for 2018 as we think it is achievable and think it gives us ample time to enable us to perform in our development and obligations towards creditors," said Lootah. He said by 2018 he hoped the company would be debt free and making a profit.

Limitless is focusing on its 200-hectare Downtown Jebel Ali project, close to the new site for the Dubai Expo in 2020.

It also plans to develop its remaining land bank in Saudi Arabia, and is continuing with its project in Russia, Lootah said, without elaborating.

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