ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION NEWS BRIEF 26 TUES DAY, 27 JUNE 2017 RESEARCH DEPARTMENT DUBAI | ABU DHABI | AL AIN | SHARJAH | JORDAN IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOR 30 YEARS © Asteco Property Management, 2017 asteco.com | astecoreports.com ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION REAL ESTATE NEWS UAE / GCC ARABTEC AND DRAKE & SCULL MAKE PROGRESS REBUILDING BALANCE SHEETS COST OF LIVING IN DUBAI AND ABU DHABI RISES BUT REMAINS ATTRACTIVE FOR EXPATS GRENFELL TOWER FIRE DISASTER IN LONDON COULD NEVER HAPPEN IN DUBAI, EXPERTS SAY ARABTEC AND DRAKE & SCULL MAKE PROGRESS REBUILDING BALANCE SHEETS MONEY SUPPLY IN UAE CONTINUES TO INCREASE IN MAY — CENTRAL BANK SAUDI ARABIA’S PUBLIC FINANCES SEEN STABILISING BY 2020 UAE THE WORLD’S 35TH MOST INNOVATIVE COUNTRY JORDAN DEVELOPER REACHES FOR THE EXTRAORDINARY EMAAR PROPERTIES APPOINTS NEW CEO OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND FOR UAE REAL ESTATE SERVICE PROVIDERS INVESTOR AWARENESS, IMPROVED REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT NECESSARY FOR GCC REITS TO FLOURISH: SURVEY EMAAR REAL ESTATE IPO HAS VALUE ARABTEC GETS GO-AHEAD FOR CAPITAL REDUCTION DAMAC TO DELIVER $1BN MUSCAT PORT PROJECT UAE SPAS BECOME A TOURISM STAPLE INVESTOR AWARENESS, IMPROVED REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT NECESSARY FOR GCC REITS TO FLOURISH: SURVEY DUBAI NEW HOMES ON HORIZON AT ARABIAN RANCHES DUBAI REALTY TAKES ON A YOUNG AND TRENDY LOOK THE LITTLE DETAILS HOME OWNERS ARE MISSING OUT ON WORK STARTS ON DUBAI’S NEW MARINA DUBAI RENTAL LAW: A TIMELY REFRESH? LIVING ON THE FRINGES DUBAI | ABU DHABI | AL AIN | SHARJAH | JORDAN IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOR 30 YEARS © Asteco Property Management, 2017 asteco.com | astecoreports.com Page 2 ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION REAL ESTATE NEWS IN PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, YOU HAVE TO SPEND TO SAVE FIND GREAT HOME RENT DEALS IN DUBAI THIS SUMMER LIFESTYLE? RETURNS? GATED COMMUNITIES OFFER THEM ALL DUBAI A SECOND-HOME HUB FOR MULTI-MILLIONAIRES ZAHRA TOWNHOUSES HIT HOME STRETCH IN TOWN SQUARE UNIFIED LEASES WILL PROMOTE MARKET TRANSPARENCY DUBAI TO LAUNCH THE FIRST CROWD ENDOWMENT PARK IN THE WORLD DEYAAR SELECTS UC FORWARD TO MARKET PROPERTIES IN CHINA WORK STARTS ON NEW UNIVERSITY 'SUPER CAMPUS' IN DUBAI DEVELOPER ELLINGTON LAUNCHES THIRD PROJECT IN DUBAI DUBAI RESIDENTIAL SALES DOMINATED BY OFF-PLAN PURCHASES ABU DHABI MUBADALA INVESTMENT COMPANY READY TO BUY REMAINING 50% IN VICEROY HOTEL GROUP REEM ISLAND HAS A NEW BEACH AT THE HEAD OF ITS CANAL ALDAR SAYS MASTER-PLANNED COMMUNITY ON REEM ISLAND WELL ON TRACK ABU DHABI SAYS TO UPGRADE MIDDLE EAST'S LONGEST TUNNEL NORTHERN EMIRATES ABU DHABI PORTS ENTERS DEAL TO DEVELOP FUJAIRAH’S HARBOUR WORK TO START ON MAJOR SHARJAH RESEARCH PARK IN AUGUST INTERNATIONAL US FEDERAL RESERVE RATE RISE TO PUSH CONSTRUCTION COSTS UK SET TO CAPITALISE ON HALAL LIFESTYLE ECONOMY ‘DANGEROUS SITUATION’ FOR HONG KONG PROPERTY MARKET, SAYS CHAN TRUMP’S INDIA PARTNER IS GUNG HO ABOUT SALES SOARING PRICES PUT OFF INDONESIAN HOME BUYERS UK BUDGET DEFICIT NARROWS, BRINGS BRIEF RESPITE PAKISTAN TO RESTART SCRUTINY OF INVESTMENT BY BUILDERS DUBAI | ABU DHABI | AL AIN | SHARJAH | JORDAN DEFINING LANDSCAPES SINCE 1985 © Asteco Property Management, 2017 asteco.com | astecoreports.com Page 3 ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION DUBAI | ABU DHABI | AL AIN | SHARJAH | JORDAN DEFINING LANDSCAPES SINCE 1985 © Asteco Property Management, 2017 asteco.com | astecoreports.com Page 4 ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION ARABTEC AND DRAKE & SCULL MAKE PROGRESS REBUILDING BALANCE SHEETS Wednesday, June 21, 2017 The contracting firms Arabtec and Drake & Scull International (DSI) both announced on Tuesday that they had made progress in cleaning up their balance sheets. But they remain a risky investment for pot•ential shareholders, according to analysts. "Both Arabtec and Drake & Scull are still in the middle of their organisational and capital restructuring," said Nishit Lakhotia, the head of research at Bahrain-based Securities & Investment Company. "That will take time. It will at least take another year," he said. He argued that in both cases minority shareholders have suffered from a dilution of their positions, but the fact that both firms now have powerful shareholders holding prominent stakes (Aabar Investments in Arabtec, and Tabarak Investment in Drake & Scull) meant that "their future should be better than what their immediate past has been in the last couple of years". "I think its wait and watch on both ends," Mr Lakhotia said. Allen Sandeep, the director of research at Cairo-based Naeem Holding, said the main challenge that remains for Drake & Scull will be collecting money owed to it for work done in Saudi Arabia. "For Arabtec as well, questions still remain over their deconsolidated KSA exposure. For continuing operations, however, in both cases, the best way forward would be to venture further into areas still having higher barriers to entry, for example oil and gas." Sanyalak Manibhandu, the head of research at NBAD Securities, said that the industry still faces liquidity issues, and in the case of both contractors their push to become regional players has not helped in this regard. "If you look at the problems with Qatar, even if it is still brief, it shows you the fault lines." He said the firms were good nat•ional contractors, "but if you are talking about regional contractors, the days where Arabtec or Drake & Scull can safely go across the GCC and make money in all of the markets, I think, is probably over. "At the end of the day, each individual country is going to give their own contractor the biggest piece of the pie." He added that contractors who venture outside of their home markets often find themselves facing long payment delays. Arabtec yesterday said it had gained approval for the first part of its recapitalisation – a Dh1.5 billion rights issue which has increase the size of its share base from 4.6 billion to 6.1 billion. The new shares are due to begin trading on the Dubai Financial Market today, subject to approval. The company then plans to reduce the size of its capital base by just over 4.6 billion shares, reducing liabilities to help extinguish losses. The firm said it would use the new money raised to help finish projects, support its turnaround plan and pursue growth opportunities. DUBAI | ABU DHABI | AL AIN | SHARJAH | JORDAN DEFINING LANDSCAPES SINCE 1985 © Asteco Property Management, 2017 asteco.com | astecoreports.com Page 5 ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION DSI is planning to cancel 75 per cent of its shares to write off losses of Dh1.71bn. Once this is done, Tabarak Investment will subscribe to Dh500 million worth of new shares. It is likely to own a majority stake in the contractor post-investment. Drake & Scull said yesterday that it had received approval from the Securities & Commodities Authority to begin final preparations for the share reduction, which is likely to take six to seven weeks to complete. It expects the investment to be finalised by the end of the third financial quarter. Source: The National Back to Index DUBAI | ABU DHABI | AL AIN | SHARJAH | JORDAN DEFINING LANDSCAPES SINCE 1985 © Asteco Property Management, 2017 asteco.com | astecoreports.com Page 6 ASSET MANAGEMENT SALES LEASING VALUATION & ADVISORY SALES MANAGEMENT OWNER ASSOCIATION COST OF LIVING IN DUBAI AND ABU DHABI RISES BUT REMAINS ATTRACTIVE FOR EXPATS Wednesday, June 21, 2017 Dubai and Abu Dhabi are once again the most expensive cities to live in the Arab world, according to Mercer’s 2017 Cost of Living Survey. Luanda in Angola is the most expensive city for expats in the world, followed by Hong Kong, Tokyo, Zurich and Singapore. Continuing a trend seen in recent years, both Dubai and Abu Dhabi rose in the rankings in the 2017 list, with Dubai entering the top 20 in Mercer’s ranking of approximately 200 global cities for the first time. Here, Nuno Gomes, principal at Mercer Middle East based in Dubai, reveals what is driving the increase in the cost of living here, and explains why it is only going to keep on rising. How does this year’s ranking compare to last for the cities in the UAE? This year Dubai came up one position higher than last year, so not a big change. But it also means that they have entered the top 20 this year. It is the 20th most expensive city in the world. Abu Dhabi, which went up two spots, is coming right behind it at number 23. They are quite high. The next one is Riyadh in 57th place. So there is a big gap between Dubai and Abu Dhabi and all of the others. What contributed to the rise in the cost of living in Dubai and Abu Dhabi? Because there were no big movements from a currency fluctuation perspective, which obviously creates an impact in these rankings, this really represents a high cost of living in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. There has been a more rapid cost increase in the UAE than in some of the other cities. This is really in line with a lot of data, including inflation, going up towards the end of last year. The survey covers all elements of spending, not only on daily life in terms of food, transportation etc, but also other elements such as housing and other goods and services that are consumed on a regular basis. If you look at all those factors, we have seen a slowdown, or at least not an increase on the housing front, which really has contributed in the past to accelerate the position in the rankings. But generally speaking, food at home, food outside of home, other goods and services have become more expensive.