Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Mubadala, CapitaLand In Property Venture

Source : The Business Times, April 22, 2008

US$300m JV with Abu Dhabi agency will develop property projects

(ABU DHABI) Singapore- based CapitaLand and Abu Dhabi investment agency Mubadala Development Co said that they had set up a US$300 million joint venture to develop property projects.

The new venture, in which Mubadala has a 51 per cent stake, will focus on developing projects in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital Abu Dhabi, Mubadala chief financial officer Carlos Obeid said at a news conference yesterday.

CapitaLand, South-east Asia's largest developer, will begin with a US$4 billion mixed-use project in Abu Dhabi, Mr Obeid said.

'Through this joint venture, we will turn property development ideas into reality,' he said. 'Our strategy of making capital-intensive investments with long-term horizons will contribute to the regeneration of property in Abu Dhabi as well as enhance the real estate sector in the emirate.'

CapitaLand reported a surprise 49 per cent jump in quarterly earnings on strong home sales in February and said that it planed to dig into its $4.4 billion cash pile for expansion in countries such as India and China.

Mubadala is one of the state-owned agencies Abu Dhabi and other members of the UAE federation are using to invest their windfall from an almost sixfold increase in oil prices since 2002.

In March, it set up a new company with Chicago- based John Buck Co to develop projects across the Middle East. - Reuters

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