Dubai pays $800mn for Wal-Mart property firm

FIRST ACQUISITION: EZW has purchased Gazeley from Wal-Mart for what a source has said to be between $588-$784 million. (Getty Images)

Dubai World said on Tuesday it had bought property developer Gazeley from Wal-Mart, and a source familiar with the matter said the Dubai government investment firm had paid between 300 million and 400 million pounds ($588-$784 million).

Dubai World would not comment on the price.

Dubai World Chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said in a statement the acquisition was a milestone in the global expansion plans of its subsidiary Economics Zones World (EZW), which operates the 48 square kilometre (18.53 sq mile) Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai.

"This is our first acquisition. I hope we will have more," Salma Hareb, group chief executive of EZW, said on the sidelines of a news briefing in Dubai.

"We think that we are going to get more than 25,000 hectares as of now with this acquisition... We are going big on Russia. We have more or less cornered Europe with this operation... India and Russia are the focus for us," she said.

Gazeley, which also operates in continental Europe, has built Wal-Mart's distribution warehouses in Britain and China and is helping the world's biggest retailer with its expansion into India and Latin America.

Gazeley's clients include Wal-Mart suppliers such as Procter & Gamble and Nestle, and third-party logistics firms such as DHL and Kuehne & Nagel International.

Another Dubai World unit Limitless was linked last month to a takeover of London office developer Minerva, while a third, Leisurecorp, said it had agreed to buy the Scottish golf resort of Turnberry. (Reuters)

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