High profile Abu Dhabi tycoon and football investor Sulaiman Al Fahim has been replaced as chief executive of Abu Dhabi developer Hydra Properties, and will instead get a seat on the company’s board, according to media reports.
Ali bin Sulayem of Hydra’s parent company, Royal Group, will reportedly replace him as chief executive.
Hydra announced earlier this month that it was restructuring and could revise some projects to meet current market demands, saying it could consider putting more projects on hold if it did not have liability towards investors.
The announcement followed months of acrimony between the developer and investors in its Hydra Village project, which prompted about 200 investors to form the Hydra Investors Group and was followed by several acrimious meetings.
Last month Hydra sent legal threats to some Hydra Village investors who defaulted, despite delaying delivery of the project for two years, making changes to master plans and increasing the prices of properties.
One investor – who paid a 20 per cent deposit on his Hydra Village unit – told Emirates Business that he had not received his initial purchase contract, but the first contact Hydra had made with him since receiving the deposit was a legal demand for 50 per cent of the property’s value – or the company would claim his unit.
After several acrimonious meetings between the investors and the developer, Hydra announced a reprieve for some customers several weeks ago. Those who had already paid 50 per cent of their properties would not have to make any further instalments until 2010. The company also scrapped late payment fees.
Dr Fahim signed an agreement to buy the Premier League club Portsmouth last month. He also appeared on his own reality tv show called the Hydra Executives.