The headquarters of Aldar Properties in Abu Dhabi. Sammy Dallal / The National
The headquarters of Aldar Properties in Abu Dhabi. Sammy Dallal / The National
The headquarters of Aldar Properties in Abu Dhabi. Sammy Dallal / The National
The headquarters of Aldar Properties in Abu Dhabi. Sammy Dallal / The National

Aldar and ADQ consortium to buy 90% of Egyptian developer Sodic


Fareed Rahman
  • English
  • Arabic

A consortium comprising Abu Dhabi’s Aldar Properties and ADQ, one of the region’s largest holding companies, submitted an all-cash mandatory tender offer to buy up to 90 per cent of the share capital of Egypt’s Sixth of October for Development and Investment Company.

The partnership is offering a purchase price of 20 Egyptian pounds per share, valuing the company at 7.1 billion pounds ($453m), Aldar said in a statement on Tuesday to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares trade.

This represents a premium of 18 per cent over the three-month volume-weighted average price of 16.88 pounds and a premium of 21 per cent over the six-month VWAP of 16.50 pounds.

“This proposed acquisition of a majority stake in Sodic is a part of Aldar’s overall expansion strategy into the attractive Egyptian real estate market, with Aldar currently assessing several opportunities,” the Abu Dhabi developer said.

With its headquarters in Cairo and listed on the Egyptian Exchange, Sodic is one of Egypt’s top real estate companies with a number of residential, commercial and retail projects.

The offer to Sodic shareholders follows a rigorous due diligence process carried out by the consortium, which is 70 per cent owned by Aldar and 30 per cent by ADQ.

The final price “represents a compelling liquidity event and value proposition for Sodic’s shareholders, reflecting the company’s robust fundamentals and brand equity”, Aldar said. The offer is subject to approval by Egypt's Financial Regulatory Authority.

Aldar Properties, which is behind mega projects such as the Formula One race circuit on Yas Island, reported a 7.6 per cent jump in second-quarter profit, thanks to higher revenue and rental income as the UAE’s property market continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Net profit attributable to owners of the company for the three-month period to the end of June climbed to Dh520m ($142m) while revenue and rental income rose more than 9 per cent annually to about Dh2.2bn.

Aldar also revamped its business and adopted a new operating model with a parent company overseeing its core development and investment businesses.

Aldar Development, which is responsible for building out the company's 75 million square metre land bank, will have three subsidiaries – Aldar Projects, Aldar Ventures and Aldar Egypt, it said earlier this year.

Sodic booked a record 7.4bn pounds in sales last year as it handed over 1,162 units, it said in January. The company's developments include the mixed-use Sodic Westown, Eastown, Kattameya Plaza and Caesar schemes, among others.

Set up in 2018, ADQ has a portfolio of companies in important sectors of Abu Dhabi’s non-oil economy such as tourism and hospitality, aviation, transport, logistics, industrial, property, media, health care, agri-foods and financial services.

Its portfolio includes the Abu Dhabi Power Corporation, Abu Dhabi Airports, Abu Dhabi Ports, Etihad Rail, healthcare provider Seha, insurer Daman, Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company and media companies Abu Dhabi Media and twofour54.

Earlier this year, ADQ bought Egypt’s Amoun Pharmaceutical Company from Canada's Bausch Health for $470m to build its healthcare portfolio. It is also investing up to $1bn in Abu Dhabi-based retail chain Lulu International Holdings to help the company expand its operations in Egypt.

The Details

Kabir Singh

Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series

Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga

Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa

Rating: 2.5/5 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
if you go

The flights

Emirates have direct flights from Dubai to Glasgow from Dh3,115. Alternatively, if you want to see a bit of Edinburgh first, then you can fly there direct with Etihad from Abu Dhabi.

The hotel

Located in the heart of Mackintosh's Glasgow, the Dakota Deluxe is perhaps the most refined hotel anywhere in the city. Doubles from Dh850

 Events and tours

There are various Mackintosh specific events throughout 2018 – for more details and to see a map of his surviving designs see glasgowmackintosh.com

For walking tours focussing on the Glasgow Style, see the website of the Glasgow School of Art. 

More information

For ideas on planning a trip to Scotland, visit www.visitscotland.com

Teaching your child to save

Pre-school (three - five years)

You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.

Early childhood (six - eight years)

Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.

Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)

Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.

Young teens (12 - 14 years)

Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.

Teenage (15 - 18 years)

Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.

Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)

Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.

* JP Morgan Private Bank 

2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

Company profile

Name: Steppi

Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic

Launched: February 2020

Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year

Employees: Five

Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings

Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year

'Gehraiyaan'
Director:Shakun Batra

Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa

Rating: 4/5

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

Director: Scott Cooper

Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong

Rating: 4/5

The stats

Ship name: MSC Bellissima

Ship class: Meraviglia Class

Delivery date: February 27, 2019

Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT

Passenger capacity: 5,686

Crew members: 1,536

Number of cabins: 2,217

Length: 315.3 metres

Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)

Torbal Rayeh Wa Jayeh
Starring: Ali El Ghoureir, Khalil El Roumeithy, Mostafa Abo Seria
Stars: 3

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

Available: Now

Abu Dhabi GP starting grid

1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

3 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)

4 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

5 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)

6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

7 Romain Grosjean (Haas)

8 Charles Leclerc (Sauber)

9 Esteban Ocon (Force India)

10 Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)

11 Carlos Sainz (Renault)

12 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)

13 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

14 Sergio Perez (Force India)

15 Fernando Alonso (McLaren)

16 Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)

17 Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)

18 Stoffe Vandoorne (McLaren)

19 Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)

20 Lance Stroll (Williams)

At Eternity’s Gate

Director: Julian Schnabel

Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaacs, Mads Mikkelsen

Three stars

Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage

Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid 

Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani

Rating: 4/5

Company%20profile
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Wicked: For Good

Director: Jon M Chu

Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater

Rating: 4/5

How to help

Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

The six points:

1. Ministers should be in the field, instead of always at conferences

2. Foreign diplomacy must be left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation

3. Emiratisation is a top priority that will have a renewed push behind it

4. The UAE's economy must continue to thrive and grow

5. Complaints from the public must be addressed, not avoided

6. Have hope for the future, what is yet to come is bigger and better than before

England World Cup squad

Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
  1. Join parent networks
  2. Look beyond school fees
  3. Keep an open mind
Who was Alfred Nobel?

The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.

  • In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
  • Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
  • Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Updated: September 14, 2021, 12:16 PM