Arabtec lands contract for $653m project

Dubai’s Arabtec Holding said on Sunday it has received a letter of intent from the Sunland Group to build a project worth 2.4 billion dirhams ($653.4 million) in Dubai.

The project, which includes residential towers at Nakheel’s Dubai Waterfront development at Jebel Ali, is expected to be completed by the end of 2013, Arabtec said.

Arabtec is the United Arab Emirates’ largest construction company by market value. More info will be posted as soon as it’s made available.

Reuters

Dubai stocks suffer worst fall in months

The Dubai Financial Market General Index yesterday plummeted 2.97 per cent, its biggest one-day drop in six months, falling 155.75 points to 5,094.56. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange Index slid 121.56 points or 2.55 per cent to close at 4,652.42.

The market capitalisation fell by Dh21.67 billion on the day.

Fears over the sustainability of property price rise in the UAE and whether banks are going to restrict lending to the real estate sector weighed on in the minds of the investors.

In Dubai, real estate stocks declined 3.98 per cent followed by the fin-ance and investment sector, which lost 3.05 per cent. Though it had the highest turnover of Dh178.36 billion, Emaar Properties was one of the major losers, declining 3.83 per cent to Dh10.05. Arabtec led the list of decliners, plummeting 9.91 per cent to close at Dh15.45. Mortgage lender Tamweel dropped 4.41 per cent to Dh6.50.

In Abu Dhabi, Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real Estate, among the top three stocks in terms of turnover, retreated 7.39 per cent and 6.42 per cent respectively. Overall, the real estate sector index dropped 6.79 per cent.

Morgan Stanley last week issued a report warning property prices, particularly in Dubai, would come under pressure - it forecast a decline of 10 per cent - with an oversupply expected in 2009. Also, the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry published a report saying that the banks should be careful in their exposure to real estate and construction sector to avoid the US scenario. Gulf News had reported on Sunday that the Central Bank could tighten lending standards to curb the rise in real estate sector loans.

“I think there was some very aggressive selling from the GCC investors in real estate,” said Julian Bruce, director of foreign institutional sales, EFG-Hermes. “There are a few voices currently questioning the sustainability of property price rise in the UAE, Dubai in particular. In addition to the [Morgan Stanley's] report, there is also speculation regarding a government legislation related to restriction of flipping on off-plan sales. Now obviously if you see domestic investors perceiving that their opportunity to make money in some of these markets is going to be restricted, then the financial reaction to that is to sell real estate stocks.”

However, the market decline at this time of the year is similar to what happened during the period preceding Ramadan last year, according to Mousa Haddad, head of trade, discretionary mandate, National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

“So in the weeks before Ramadan we will see further declines. Volumes are getting lower, bids are declining - so basically there was pressure on the selling side - I would term it as ‘panic selling. ‘ But the fact is that the fundamentals are very strong - for real estate, banks and telecom.”

Among other factors, Bruce said, investors seemed to be shying away from emerging markets in general, and there was selling on Friday, the compulsion for which came from Russia. “A lot of investors investing in the Middle East and Northern Africa (Mena) region do have an exposure to Russia as well,” he said.

Elsewhere in the region, the Tadawul index of Saudi Arabia fell to a new low for the year, closing 3.55 per cent lower at 7,884.14. Bahrain’s index closed 0.82 per cent lower at 2,731.02. Qatar also declined 1.81 per cent to end at 11,297.86.

Gulfnews

Arabtec to deliver Emaar-Bawadi villas

Arabtec Construction LLC received a letter of acceptance valued at AED 1.6 billion from Emaar Bawadi Joint Venture to design and construct 1437 villas as part of the Bawadi project in Dubailand. The project will be delivered in phases over a period of 37 months.

Riad Kamal, CEO of Arabtec Holding PJSC, stated: “Our vast experience and the variety of projects we’ve carried out so far, from towers to residential complexes and villas, has deeply supported our abilities to fulfill our clients’ needs, and has given us a complete understanding of what our clients look for in their projects. Developers choose Arabtec because they are confident of the company’s ability to accomplish these big projects.”

“This mutual trust that has been developed between the company and the clients, based on the clients’ satisfaction and the high standards of the company, has firmly positioned Arabtec’s name as a symbol of quality and trust,” he added.

Arabtec is one of the largest construction companies in the region, with expert management, engineering, and technical staff, and a wealth of experience in the real estate market, including residential villa complexes. Over the past few years, Arabtec has constructed more than 7,000 villas for Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, Dubai Properties, Mohammed bin Rashid Housing Establishment and EmaarEmaarLoading…’s villas at “Emirates Hills”, “The Lakes”, “The Meadows”, “The Springs” and “Arabian Ranches”.

The total number of villas currently under construction by Arabtec exceeds 10000 villas including 3230 villas for Mohammed bin Rashid Housing Establishment, 1515 for Nakheel’s “Al Furjan” project, 1047 for Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, 1262 for various projects by Emaar, 2065 villas at Bawadi
for Emaar-Bawadi Joint Venture, and a number of villas in the “Sanctuary Falls” project in Dubai.

Arabtec Constructionrecently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) in Abu Dhabi to design, develop and construct the first phase of Al Saadiyat beachfront villas project, which lies in Al Saadiyat Islands near Abu Dhabi.