The developer, which currently owns 67 per cent of First Dubai, said the benefit of buying the remaining 33 per cent stake is “marginal and does not justify the costs of the acquisition”, it said in a statement on the Kuwaiti bourse website yesterday.
“We have been advised by Al Shall Consulting Company not to go ahead with the stake acquisition, as the time is not right. And so the company has decided to put the decision on hold,” he said.
According to the source, Al Mazaya was in pre-agreement talks with Global Investment House, which owns 10 per cent stake in First Dubai, but now it has been put off. The rest is spread across small investors.
Al Mazaya had appointed Al Shall Consulting Company in May as an advisor to help it decide on a fair price for the deal after saying it was considering consolidation among some of its units to reduce costs.
First Dubai was established in 2003 with a capital of KD100 million (Dh1.27 billion).
No trading took place yesterday on the Al Mazaya counter on the Dubai Financial Market and Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE). First Dubai shares rose 1.14 per cent to end at KD0.089 on the KSE.
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