Enthusiastic response to Tamweel offers at Cityscape Dubai 2008
October 7, 2008 by UAERush · Leave a Comment
Tamweel PJSC, the largest provider of real estate finance in the UAE, has met with an extremely enthusiastic response to its finance offers at Cityscape Dubai 2008, including more than 470 registrations for property on the first day of the event, demonstrating the health of the market for well-priced properties.
Despite challenging conditions globally, investors and end-users responded strongly to Tamweel’s offer of up to 90 per cent finance for visitors who register for a pre-approval facility at the company’s exhibition stand, with no arrangement fees upon registration on select Tamweel properties,
“In the days leading up to Cityscape, amidst ongoing turmoil in global credit markets, there was a great deal of anticipation about the response from investors and end-users to the largest business-to-business real estate investment and development event in the world,”
said Wasim Saifi, Group Chief Executive Officer, Tamweel.
“Following the conclusion of the first day of the event and the record response to our finance offers, we remain more convinced than ever that the fundamentals of the market here remain extremely sound.
“We are still a good three years away from supply-demand equilibrium in the Dubai market, and the appetite for well-priced properties remains unabated,” he added. “For real estate finance providers like Tamweel, the future therefore continues to appear extremely bright. We look forward to a successful conclusion to this important event, which will send a clear message of reassurance to markets here and, by extension, across the world.”
Visitors to Cityscape Dubai can chose from a range of innovative real estate financing solutions from Tamweel and avail of exciting offers at its stand 6B30 in Hall #6. Cityscape Dubai 2008 takes place from October 6–9, 2008, at the Dubai Exhibition and Convention Centre.
Amlak and Tamweel have begun merger talks
October 5, 2008 by UAERush · Leave a Comment
Amlak and Tamweel, the UAE’s two publicly listed mortgage finance companies, announced on Saturday that they have begun merger talks.
“With the blessing and support of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Amlak Finance PJSC and Tamweel PJSC have begun exploratory discussions for a possible merger,”
the companies said.
“The resultant [merged] entity would have a combined balance sheet in excess of Dh27 billion and serve as a financial powerhouse with the increased critical mass required to lead the region’s real estate finance markets to the next stage in their ongoing organic growth,” said Nasser Bin Hassan Al Shaikh, Director-General of the Dubai Department of Finance and Chairman of Amlak Finance.
Analysts and banking industry experts said yesterday that the merger would strengthen the combined balance sheets of the new entity and will help it to expand in and beyond the region.
“Although the mortgage industry is relatively young in the UAE it has matured over the past 7 years. The creation of a new company by combining the expertise and balance sheets of Tamweel and Amlak will create a critical mass in terms of balance sheet strength to expand regionally,” said Blair Hagkull, managing director of Johns Lang Lasalle for the Middle East and North Africa.
The UAE’s housing mortgage assets are projected to double to Dh70 billion by 2011 from Dh32 billion in 2007.
Asset growth
In 2007, Tamweel’s total assets almost tripled and Amlak’s grew by 90 per cent.
In the UAE, mortgage lending represented 4.7 per cent in 2007 whereas the average for emerging markets mortgage is 15 to 30 per cent of GDP, according to Moody’s.
“The major shareholders of both companies - Emaar Properties for Amlak Finance, and Dubai Islamic Bank and Dubai World for Tamweel - are fully supportive of the merger discussions,” said Shaikh Khalid Bin Zayed Bin Saqer Al Nahyan, Chairman of Tamweel.
Tamweel deputy head arrested
September 9, 2008 by UAERush · Leave a Comment
Authorities in Dubai have arrested Abdullah Nasser Abdullah, the deputy chief executive of Tamweel, the country’s largest Islamic mortgage lender in a widening corruption and financial misappropriation inquiry, a senior company official has confirmed.
“All we can confirm is that he was arrested on Tuesday. You will have to wait for the company statement,” a senior Tamweel official said.
A senior Dubai police source confirmed Mr Abdullah’s arrest. He is the latest suspect to be held in a widening investigation. Adel Al Shirawi, the vice chairman of Istithmar World and the former chief executive Tamweel along with Feras Kalthoum, the chief financial officer of Istithmar World are both under police custody.
Dubai is currently on a corporate clean up drive and Mr Abdullah’s arrest is an indication the ongoing investigation into Tamweel, which is 55 per cent held by the public, will not come to an end any time soon. Dubai Government-owned Istithmar World has a 22 per cent stake in Tamweel while Dubai Islamic Bank owns 19.98 per cent of the firm. Some of DIB’s senior executives are already under investigation on charges of bribery and financial corruption.
A Tamweel spokesman told The National that it would issue a statement on the matter later today.
Police arrest 4 Sama Dubai employees over alleged corruption
August 21, 2008 by UAERush · Leave a Comment
Four officials of real-estate developer Sama Dubai have been arrested and are being questioned by Dubai’s Public Prosecution, adding to the number of persons under investigation over allegations of bribe-taking and other financial wrongdoings.
One of the four people being held is Abdulsalam Almarri, chief executive of the Lagoon project of Sama Dubai, the international real-estate development and investment arm of the government-owned Dubai Holding, said a report by Zawya Dow Jones, citing the documents it saw on Thursday.
A Sama Dubai spokesperson said in a phone interview that he is trying to contact the company’s executive chairman, Farhan Faraidooni, who is out of the country, for “confirmation or negation” of the report.
“But as of now I have no information whether this is true or not,” said the spokesperson.
On Tuesday a former employee of Nakheel, another company owned by the government, was reported to be under investigation over allegations of bribe-taking, bringing to two the number of persons being investigated in connection with bribery at Nakheel.
Nakheel issued a statement on Friday confirming that a current employee was undergoing investigation by authorities for allegedly accepting bribes from another party. But it stressed that no embezzlement had happened in the company.
Dubai’s Public Prosecution issued a statement on Sunday saying that the government has a zero-tolerance policy against corruption, following a series of police probes this year into alleged financial wrongdoings by employees at firms including Tamweel, Dubai Islamic Bank and Deyaar Development.
Probe to impact markets
August 17, 2008 by UAERush · Leave a Comment
The police investigation into alleged financial irregularities by top executives at mortgage lender Tamweel and developer Nakheel will cast a shroud of uncertainty tinged with gloom on the stock markets this week.
The latest round follows similar probe into Deyaar Development and Dubai Islamic Bank earlier this year. “Isolated bad news has a way of snowballing into a negative sentiment and we expect property stocks to take a further hit on the Dubai exchange this week,” said a trader on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on condition of anonymity.
Nakheel has denied any “embezzlement”, while Tamweel has confirmed simply that an investigation is under way. Istithmar World, a subsidiary of Dubai World, has also confirmed that the roles of two senior employees are being investigated for possible financial irregularity while they were employed with another company. The company is Tamweel.
“The Deyaar investigation earlier this year caused a run on the company’s stock, with a contagion effect on other property stocks. Last week’s news will extend the weakness and Dubai can be expected to test the 4,700-points level,” the Abu Dhabi-based trader said.
After a torrid first half of August, investors’ hopes that equities will rebound are likely to be shattered this week. The most that traders would probably settle for is a week of consolidation.
Last week, both the Dubai and Abu Dhabi bourses suffered their largest one-day declines since January and although the capital’s index is now on a two-session winning streak, it is unlikely to escape a similar malaise to the one engulfing Dubai. The ADX lost five per cent last week, while the Dubai Financial Market fared little better, dropping 4.43 per cent and will open today on 5,018 points.
“We expect range-bound trading for the next month,” said Julian Bruce, EFG-Hermes director of institutional equity sales.
Emaar will again be key to Dubai’s fortunes. The property giant slipped to an 12-month intraday low of Dh9.58 that triggered Wednesday’s 2.6 per cent rebound, but this gave way to more selling the day after, meaning Emaar will open on Dh9.66 today and down 35 per cent in 2008. Tamweel will also be under selling pressure.
Aldar Properties will dominate trading on the ADX. The developer is a couple of percentage points below its foreign ownership limit of 40 per cent and will see more buying this week because it is held by a significant number of different investment vehicles.
Nakheel manager held in bribery investigation
Nakheel, the Dubai World company behind the three Palm Islands projects, confirmed to Gulf News on Friday that one if its senior employees is under investigation on bribery charges.
Nakheel said in a statement last evening that an employee is being questioned by the authorities, but did not provide any details.
For days, rumours of the arrest of a senior executive had been circulating in Dubai financial circles, but the company previously neither confirmed nor denied the speculation.
However, Gulf News has learned that Nakheel’s general manager of sales, Walid Al Jaziri, is being questioned by authorities for taking kickbacks. But Nakheel refused to confirm his name.
“Nakheel regularly conducts internal audits as part of its commitment to a transparent corporate governance,” a Nakheel company spokesperson said.
“As a result of this internal audit process, the company can confirm that a member of staff is being interviewed by the authorities. It would be inappropriate to comment further on this issue.”
The company also denied a report in a London-based magazine that around Dh3 billion had been embezzled from Nakheel.
“In relation to rumours of embezzlement, the company can confirm that no embezzlement has taken place within Nakheel and the figure of Dh3 billion quoted is categorically incorrect,” the spokesman said.
However, the company said the allegations of financial irregularities is “in relation to the acceptance of sums paid to an employee by third parties”.
When contacted by Gulf News, Nakheel’s chief executive officer Chris O’Donnell declined to provide further details, citing an ongoing investigation by Dubai Police.
“It would be inappropriate for me to comment,” he said. Nakheel is also remaining tightlipped over the amount of money involved in the bribery investigation, saying the case involves outside parties.
Tamweel: Investors dump stock
Investors worried about an investigation into an alleged financial fraud at real estate financial giant Tamweel started to dump the company’s shares on Thursday, when news of the probe began to surface.
Fadi Al Kiswani, trading manager of Al Sharhan Stock Centre, told Gulf News several investors worried about the negative impact of the investigation sold Tamweel shares when police were supposedly questioning two former top executives.
Over the past weeks, Tamweel has issued two separate denials of any investigation. The company, listed on the Dubai Financial Market, told officials there that it “has received no formal notification of such an investigation from relevant authorities”.
“I think the stock will drop further when the market opens,” Al Kiswani said, adding that the new reports of an investigation after Tamweel’s earlier denial will affect investor confidence.
