Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Dubai’s Union Properties settles $188m bank debt

By Gavin Gibbon
Union Properties' developments include the Dubai Autodrome, host of the Hankook 24H race Imago Images/Alexander Trienitz via Reuters Connect
Union Properties' developments include the Dubai Autodrome, host of the Hankook 24H race
  • AED875m repaid
  • Returned to profit in 2022
  • Dispute over Motor City

Dubai developer Union Properties has repaid debts worth up to AED875 million ($187.6 million) to a “national bank”, according to a bourse filing, as efforts to restructure the company continue.

Union Properties, best known for its Motor City development in the emirate, announced the debt payment following a board meeting on Thursday and said the settlement would be made in four instalments over nine months.

The note on Dubai Financial Market added that the company had partnered with “a major real estate developer” in Dubai “to obtain approvals to increase the gross floor area and change the use of some land owned by the company and its subsidiaries located in the Motor City”.

Aided by rebounding real estate prices, UP’s arrangement with its creditors is the latest in a series of restructurings by real estate developers and contractors in the Gulf’s commercial capital. 

Falcon City World of Wonders, a major development which stood idle for years, has auctioned off plots at steep discounts to original asking prices. Drake and Scull International, a contractor, remains in intensive care although Arabtec, one of Dubai’s leading developers, went out of business during the Covid epidemic.

Union Properties transformed a AED966 million net loss in 2021 to a AED30 million net profit last year. The resurgence continued this year, with reported profits of AED20 million for the first nine months of 2023.

Following the company’s annual general meeting earlier this year, managing director Amer Khansaheb said its ongoing recovery would be led by a return to real estate activity.

He conceded this would hinge on the result of a legal dispute with developer Dubailand over changes to the original masterplan for Motor City. There has been no update on the status of the court case.

In its most recent results, the company revealed accumulated losses had reached AED2.863 billion, representing 66.75 percent of the paid-up capital.

Latest articles

Fakeeh IPO

Institutions snap up share of Fakeeh Care Group IPO in minutes

Institutional investors snapped up their slice of shares in the Saudi healthcare conglomerate Fakeeh Care Group within minutes of the start of the book-building process for the company’s IPO. Fakeeh Care Group, which was founded in Jeddah in 1978, has set the price range for its initial public offering (IPO) at between SAR53 ($14.13) and […]

Lebanon EU aid

Lebanon to receive $1bn in financial aid from the EU

A financial aid package for Lebanon from the EU valued at more than $1 billion was announced on Thursday by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.  The money, most of which will be grants, will be made available over the next three years. Some will go towards helping to control the flow of […]

UAE minister of industry and advanced technology and Adnoc group CEO Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber (top centre) will become chairman of AIQ

Presight takes majority stake in Adnoc-G42 AI venture

The data analytics company Presight is acquiring a majority stake in AIQ, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and G42. Under the agreement, Presight, an Abu Dhabi-listed company, will own 51 percent of AIQ, with Adnoc keeping the remaining 49 percent, a statement released on Wednesday said.  Previously, G42 held 40 […]