Nakheel keeps height of iconic tower secret

Property developer Nakheel remains non-committal on the "iconic" tower being the tallest in the world. "The tower 'may or may not be the tallest', but will be an iconic one," Nakheel Chief Financial Officer Kar Tung Quek told Emirates Business . "We are not looking at the Waterfront since it falls in the flight path. The feasibility study is going on but nothing has been finalised." Earlier, he was quoted by Reuters as saying they are mulling plans to outbuild Burj Dubai being built by Emaar Properties with a near "mile-high tower." The developer of about $60 billion (Dh220bn) worth of projects is finalising plans for a 1.4-kilometre tall tower, the Middle East Economic Digest reported in its latest issue without identifying its sources. Burj Dubai, developed by Emaar Properties, had reached 636 metres earlier this month and is expected to be over 800 metres high when it is completed in September 2009, after Emaar Properties said it would increase the height. When asked about the investment planned for the iconic tower, Quek said the investment could be ascertained only after the feasibility study was completed. "The higher the tower is, the slower it is to build. So we have to take into consideration the timescale of investment," Quek said. Saudi-based Kingdom Holding is planning a mile-high tower (1,600 metres) in Jeddah, while Kuwait is planning a one-kilometre high tower in City of Silk. Nakheel's Chief Executive Officer Chris O'Donnell had told Emirates Business: "It can be an iconic tower by virtue of style of building or a significant architecture structure that people marvel. We will unveil this project during this year." Meanwhile, Nakheel plans to raise its stake in Australia's Mirvac Group to just under 20 per cent from 12.5 per cent, to expand its operations there, Quek told Reuters. In January, the company had increased its stake in Mirvac to 12.5 per cent from 6.5 per cent. "Because of the credit crisis, we have many investment banks knocking on our door with big piles of opportunities in the United States, UK, Australia and China," he added. "We are looking for partners in Asia, Europe and maybe the US. We like the company to be listed," he added. "We want to have exclusive partners, one in Asia with a footprint around Asia and we would look for a very significant stake... likewise in Europe, one big UK-listed company that would give us a footprint around Europe. We are working on quite a few deals." Quek said the company is planning to launch one or two real estate investment funds worth up to $5bn in the next two months to finance projects in Dubai. Asked whether Nakheel was planning new borrowing, Quek said the debt market was tight at the moment and that the company was partly funding its projects through land sales. Nakheel issued $1bn worth of Islamic bonds in May. Realty fund $5bn worth of real estate investment funds would be launched in the next two months to finance projects in Dubai.