Dubai Investments plans to exit four companies on good valuations
DUBAI Investments, which holds stakes in about 30 companies spanning manufacturing, real estate and financial services, plans to exit four of its investments via private sales this year after valuations hit attractive levels.
The firm, which counts the Investment Corporation of Dubai as its biggest shareholder, is in talks over two deals that should be concluded in four to six months, chief executive officer Khalid Bin Kalban said in an interview. He declined to name the investments and potential buyers.
“We’ll have private sales which we think gives us a better value,” Bin Kalban said. “Private sales are also easy to do and don’t require more than six months to exit.”
Dubai Investments’ portfolio includes holdings in Al Mal Capital and the Dubai outpost of King’s College Hospital London. The company may raise its stake in the UK-based Monument Bank to 30 per cent from about 20 per cent pending regulatory approval, Bin Kalban said.
In 2022, it sold a 50 per cent stake in district cooling company Emicool for 1.2 billion dirhams (S$438 million), generating a profit of 950 million dirhams.
Property assets
Dubai Investments recently established Global Fertility, with plans to acquire and build fertility clinics in Saudi Arabia. The US$50 million company, in which Dubai Investments hold about a 35 per cent stake, plans to expand into the Gulf and the wider region within a couple of years, Bin Kalban said.
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The firm plans to raise US$100 million for its Reit that’s listed on the Dubai Financial Market. Dubai Investments will use the funds to acquire a school and a hospital, while boosting the Reit’s size to 1.2 billion dirhams, Bin Kalban said.
Dubai Investments expects the fastest growth to come from its real estate division, which accounts for just over a third of its 22 billion dirhams of assets, he said.
Bin Kalban expects to spend at least one billion dirhams this year developing projects in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah, including about 500 homes in the Mirdif district of the city and a 40-story tower in Meydan.
It’s also building infrastructure on an industrial park in Angola and plans to set up a glass factory and steel structure manufacturing facility on the site, Bin Kalban said.
Shares in Dubai Investments have gained 3.6 per cent over the past 12 months compared with a 21 per cent jump in the emirate’s main index. BLOOMBERG
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