Dubai

DUBAI-BASED property giant Emaar has outlined plans to merge with three real-estate units controlled by the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Shares of Emaar Property, the largest listed Arab developer, fell 10 per cent on the statement by chairman Mohammed Alabbar yesterday, amid fears about the value of the assets owned by the three units, part of state-controlled Dubai Holding.

The proposed new entity, a combination of Emaar with Dubai Holding units Dubai Properties, Sama Dubai and Tatweer, would have combined assets near 194bn dirhams (£32bn), Alabbar said.

He said the Dubai Holding assets were worth 126bn dirhams at the end of 2008, and Emaar’s assets at the end of March stood at 68bn dirhams.  But property in the region has plummeted by as much as 40 per cent in the first quarter of this year alone.