Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi's largest developer, will meet all its debt obligations on time, a top official says. The developer told analysts this month it would announce a framework for dealing with its impending debt obligations in the final three months of the year.
"Aldar will meet its obligations as and when they are due," said Shafqat Malik, the chief financial officer of the company. Mr Malik's comments came as property analysts said they believed the Government would step in to help the company deal with a funding gap that could rise as high as Dh6 billion (US$1.63bn) next year.
Majed Azzam, an analyst at HC Securities in Dubai, said one possibility for the Government in helping Aldar would involve the company issuing "straight debt to Mubadala [Development, a strategic investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government] and several Abu Dhabi banks".
This would allow Aldar to get around recent credit ratings downgrades that have unnerved investors over the past month.
After Aldar's quarterly loss of Dh789.5 million for the first half of the year, two agencies cut its rating to junk status.
Standard & Poor's cut Aldar to "BB minus" from "A minus", with a negative outlook. Moody's Investors Service reduced the company to "Ba3" from "Ba1", as well as bringing two bonds down to "B1" from "Ba1".
Both agencies cited the poor financial condition as reasons for the downgrades.
Chet Riley, an analyst at Nomura Securities, said there was a growing belief Aldar would receive some level of support from the Abu Dhabi Government.
One possibility would be a Government statement of support.
In May, Standard & Poor's took three Abu Dhabi companies - Tourism Development and Investment Company, Mubadala Development and International Petroleum Investment Company - off review for credit rating downgrades after it determined their ties with the Government were enough to grant them the same rating as the Government itself.
The move came less than two months after a government official announced "it was impossible to differentiate between the Government and any of these three entities in terms of credit risk". Mr Azzam said the growing speculation over Government assistance to Aldar has pushed Aldar's sukuk higher in trading.
Aldar's Islamic bond due in November next year rose 1.81 per cent yesterday from a 16-month low on August 11, according to Bloomberg. "Following the Moody's and Standard & Poor's credit downgrades, concerns started to emerge about a potential funding gap in 2011 given the company's diminished ability to access credit markets," Mr Azzam said.
Aldar's shares have had the worst performance of any of the UAE's publicly traded developers.
The shares shed another 0.89 per cent yesterday, closing at Dh2.21. The stock has lost 55.6 per cent for the year. While bondholders have shown some confidence in Aldar's ability to tap its Government stakeholders for help, equity holders are worried about getting wiped out, Mr Azzam said.
The Government already owns about 37 per cent of Aldar but that stake will rise to 47 per cent at the end of next year, when a loan from Mubadala converts into equity.
"While a default by Aldar is unlikely, giving more comfort to bondholders, equity holders are particularly concerned about potential dilution caused by the Government taking a bigger equity stake at distressed valuations," Mr Azzam said.
"Considering the Abu Dhabi Government's long-term goal to develop its capital markets, we are of the view that such a move would be ill-advised."
bhope@thenational.ae
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPurpl%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKarl%20Naim%2C%20Wissam%20Ghorra%2C%20Jean-Marie%20Khoueir%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHub71%20in%20Abu%20Dhabi%20and%20Beirut%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2021%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E12%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%242%20million%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The specs
Engine: Turbocharged four-cylinder 2.7-litre
Power: 325hp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh189,700
On sale: now
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially