Arabtec said it won a Dh1.46 billion contract to build the wasl Tower beside Dubai’s main highway.
The mixed-use tower is being developed by Wasl Asset Management (Wasl) on a site at Sheikh Zayed Road on the opposite side to Dubai Mall.
The 63-storey, 300m-high building, will house a Mandarin Oriental hotel and serviced residences, as well as a series of vertical gardens designed by Amsterdam-based UN Studio.
It is due for completion in 2020, and is one of more than a dozen hotel projects being developed by Wasl in the run-up to 2020 – although most of these are three- and four-star properties.
The chief executive of Arabtec Holding, Hamish Tyrwhitt, saidthe contract “has been awarded based on our track record of delivering world-class mixed-used developments, adding to Arabtec Construction’s existing portfolio of over 22 projects we are currently building in the UAE”.
He said that the long-term outlook for the construction sector in its key geographic markets, especially the UAE where most of its projects are located, remains positive.
“With the combination of the strategic repositioning of the business, strong industry fundamentals and catalyst events such as Expo 2020 fast-approaching, we believe that the year ahead will see Arabtec continue on its path to a successful and sustainable future.”
The builder has a backlog of Dh17bn, equivalent to about two years of current revenue.
Arabtec is currently in the midst of a rights issue, which is the first part of a recapitalisation plan that will see it raise Dh1.5bn from investors through the issue of new shares, then cancel Dh4.1bn worth of shares with a view to writing off accumulated losses of the same value.
The rights issue has effectively been underwritten by Arabtec’s major shareholder, Aabar Investments, which currently holds a 36.11 per cent stake in the company.
A new International construction market survey produced by project management firm Turner & Townsend showed that activity in the Gulf’s construction markets remained relatively subdued last year. The firm tracked 43 markets and said that the three Middle East markets monitored – the UAE, Qatar and Oman – all reported lower-than-average cost inflation. Globally, an increase in construction activity saw costs rise by an average of 3.7 per cent in 2016. However, costs stayed flat in Oman and only increased by 0.5 per cent in Qatar. In the UAE, costs rose by 1.5 per cent, due mainly to activity in Dubai.
“In recent years, Middle Eastern countries had some of the highest margins in our survey, in part due to the increased risk of operating in these regions,” the report said. “The fall in the price of oil, however, pushed margins down in the region as the construction market slows and companies are reducing prices in order to win work.”
Construction inflation is expected to remain flat in Oman this year, but will increase by 2 per cent in the UAE and 1.5 per cent in Qatar as activity picks up in both countries.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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South Africa squad
Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen (wicketkeeper), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.
What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
We Weren’t Supposed to Survive But We Did
We weren’t supposed to survive but we did.
We weren’t supposed to remember but we did.
We weren’t supposed to write but we did.
We weren’t supposed to fight but we did.
We weren’t supposed to organise but we did.
We weren’t supposed to rap but we did.
We weren’t supposed to find allies but we did.
We weren’t supposed to grow communities but we did.
We weren’t supposed to return but WE ARE.
Amira Sakalla
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
