Emaar Properties PJSC, the UAE’s largest developer, is one of several prominent Dubai firms seeking to borrow in order to fund expansion in the wake of a global financial crisis, tightened lending and plummeting property values.  Bloomberg reports today that “plans for a $2 billion euro medium-term note program guaranteed by Emaar and a $2 billion trust certificate program by a Shariah-compliant unit were approved by the U.K. Listing Authority.”  A unit of HSBC Holdings Plc will be the paying agent for both programs.  Analysts report that Emaar has about 9.1 billion dirhams ($2.5 billion) of outstanding debt, and cash and cash equivalents of 4.03 billion dirhams at the end of September.

Other Dubai firms seeking cash include Dubai Bank, which announced in September that it planned to sell as much as $5 billion of Islamic bonds.  And Commercial Bank of Dubai PSC said it was seeking $2 billion through a bond sale, while Borse Dubai Ltd. stated its intention to court $2.5 billion in order to refinance a loan.  The largest state-owned companies in the UAE have $20 billion of debt that falls due in 2009, according to Merrill Lynch.

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