Emaar looks abroad for growth

Emaar Properties will focus its efforts abroad and on non-property sectors such as hospitality and hospitals, the company said yesterday.

On the day it opens the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, Emaar said it was not considering a merger with unlisted developer Nakheel.

Emaar said the $1.5 billion (Dh5.50bn) tower would provide a 10 per cent yield for the firm and that the opening would boost earnings for most of 2010.

However, the Emaar stock took a hit on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) yesterday when it fell 2.2 percent, pulling the DFM index down 2.1 per cent

Emaar cancelled a merger in December with the property units of Dubai Holding in a strategic reversal.

"All the studies which we made, we couldn't find a way ahead and it wasn't the right time for a merger at this time," said Issam Galadari, Chief Executive of Emaar Dubai, at a media briefing.

Chairman Mohamed Alabbar told reporters there were no plans to merge with Nakheel, the largest property company in the Middle East.

The Emaar executives said it was a positive move forward as the emirate's property prices stabilised, despite wider expectations for continued stress in Dubai's real estate sector.

"You have to ask why we are building all this? To bring quality of life and a smile to people and I think we should continue to do that," Alabbar told journalists.

"Dubai is where our life is. We have beautiful long-term plans for development in Dubai," he said. "We build for years to come. Crises come and go," said Alabbar.

"The world has gone through two years of difficult times. We must have hope and optimism," he said.

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