Dubai Investments targets acquisitions to diversify its portfolio

Dubai Investments is assessing acquisitions in healthcare, education and different sectors and can soon start a new real estate project worthy of Dh1 billion in Ras Al Khaimah as the UAE's economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.

“We will be positioning ourselves to go ahead. We look at the market improvements and market trends and we select whatever we think will definitely give a good return to the shareholders,” chief executive Khalid Bin Kalban advised The National within an interview.

Set up found in 1995, Dubai Investments - in which Dubai’s sovereign riches fund Investment Corporation of Dubai retains an 11.54 per cent stake - has companies involved with a variety of sectors including property, industrial, financial services, healthcare and education. It owns businesses such as for example Dubai Investments Park, capital raising enterprise Masharie, Al Mal Capital and district cooling business Emicool.

Dubai Investments last month increased its stake in National Basic INSURANCE PROVIDER to 29.99 % and “aims to get more in to the company”, Mr Kalban explained.

Before this week, the business reported a Dh123.8 million profit for the 90 days to March 31, in comparison to a Dh6.8m loss in the same period this past year as total income increased by a lot more than 37 % to Dh637.6m.

Dubai Investments' health care holdings include KCH Health care London, which manages King’s College treatment centers and hospitals in Dubai and Clemenceau Drugs International - an affiliate of Johns Hopkins International with medical centres in Lebanon, Riyadh and Dubai Health care City. It also owns Globalpharma, which manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products over the Middle East.

In the training sector, it owns two universities - Modul University Dubai and University of Balamund Dubai. It strategies to extend in the training sector in Africa, where it has already built a institution in Nairobi and features two under structure in Egypt. Additional are planned in Egypt and Morocco, Mr Bin Kalban said.

Dubai Investments can be in “serious discussions to determine something similar to Dubai Investments Park in Egypt and Angola”, Mr Kalban said.

“Hopefully, [we] will make a conclusion simply by year end upon this front. Thus if that comes, that might be a great support for Dubai Investments to extend outside our typical market.”

He didn't provide details on the full total size or level of investment planned for these projects. Dubai Investments Park is usually a mixed-use industrial, professional and residential free zone spread across 2,300 hectares near Al Maktoum AIRPORT TERMINAL. The site hosts a lot more than 4,600 firms serving a range of sectors including coal and oil, construction and pharmaceutical sectors.

In the true estate sector, Dubai Investments projects to launch a new task in Ras Al Khaimah with a total cost of Dh1bn in 2021, he stated.

“We only finished the master arrange for it in Murjan Island. It has 170 villas, a hotel, serviced flats and retail products. Demand for such assignments is very high in Ras Al Khaimah.”

Property prices found in the UAE are anticipated to stabilise in 2021 as the market recovers from a good coronavirus pandemic-induced slowdown and federal government initiatives spur growth. New programmes such as for example visas for expatriate retirees and the expansion of the 10-season golden visa scheme to draw in foreign pros to the UAE are also likely to support the sector.

“Real estate market on Dubai is showing confident signs and there's a good degree of demand coming from overseas. We have a whole lot of enquiries for our houses and this year looks superior to 2020,” Mr Kalban explained.

The company plans to sell Dh800m worth of residential units in 2021.

Dubai Investments can be delivering a Dh500m project in Fujairah with shopping malls, residential and business office towers and a resort in addition to a Dh3bn mixed-work with scheme in Mirdif with above 1,000 residential devices, an office building and a hotel.

“Hopefully we will need the [Mirdif] project in the near future from the contractor since it is practically completed. We have previously began leasing the mall. We will open up the hotel by the finish of summer.”

The business will finance new discounts through a mix of bank loans and its particular cash, Mr Kalban said.

“We do have reasonable liquidity within the company and our cashflow made by group companies will help us develop those jobs. We will holiday resort to lender borrowing and we have very good relations with the banks and also have a good line of credit with them.”

The business also plans to start out a digital bank. The application for this is “pending with the authorities despite the fact that we raised the administrative centre”, he said.

It will be “pretty much an investment lender with individual banking activity, [wealth] operations and investing in financial products”, he said.