Dubai firm to invest $2,7 billion in real estate

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Dubai Investments (DI), the diversified Gulf-based investment group, plans to invest more than Dh10 billion ($2,72 billion) into the UAE real estate market, a top official said.

ABU DHABI — Dubai Investments (DI), the diversified Gulf-based investment group, plans to invest more than Dh10 billion ($2,72 billion) into the UAE real estate market, a top official said.

Announcing the future plans, chief executive officer Khalid Bin Kalban said the company will examine several expansion opportunities in 2015 with key focus on property sector.

It aims to enter new fields in its three main sectors — real estate, which boasts of 65% of the company’s total investments, industrial service (which account for 20% of investment) and financial services (15%), he stated.

Kalban said DI will focus primarily on industries that finance the construction sector, such as building materials, aluminum, and glass.

This stems from the idea that the construction sector is the driving force of economic growth in the UAE, he added.

Kalban said the company was planning to invest Dh3,65 billion ($994 million) in the UAE’s local real estate market during 2015 through four new projects.

DI is also studying several other projects worth Dh6,35 billion ($1,72 billion) in Dubai Investment Park, where Dubai Investments Real Estate Company, a DI subsidiary, will develop a new project in Mirdif, Dubai at a cost of Dh2,5 billion ($681 million).

On its other plans, Kalban said the company was currently at an advanced stage of negotiations to acquire 51% of two companies, of which one operates in real estate investment.

—Reuters