Al Habtoor may float entire group in Q3 2010

DUBAI MARKET: Al Habtoor Group may float its engineering unit in the third quarter of next year. (Getty Images)

Dubai-based Al Habtoor Group, a stakeholder in Barclays, may float its engineering unit in the third quarter next year and is considering the possibility of floating the entire group, its chairman said in a television interview.

Khalaf al-Habtoor told Dubai One that the company is eyeing a listing on both Dubai markets for its engineering unit and a London stock exchange listing for any public offering of the parent company.

The firm postponed plans to float Al Habtoor Leighton Group, an affiliate of Australia's Leighton Holdings, as the financial crisis rocked the global economy.

"One of the companies we might IPO is Al Habtoor engineering," he told the Dubai Tonight programme, adding the funds would be used to further expansion and provide financial backing.

"We also have another company that we might IPO or we might IPO Al Habtoor Group as a whole," he told the television programme in a transcript made available to Reuters. "We're studying all the possibilities. And we might also list on the London stock exchange as a dual listing."

Al Habtoor Group is a holding company for business ranging from construction, hospitality, automotive, real estate, education, and others, run by Habtoor, who is reputedly worth $1.1 billion according to the 2009 Forbes billionaire's list.

The company, one of the United Arab Emirates' largest family businesses, was one of several Middle East investors that bought into Barclays in 2008 as the lender looked to boost its capital to weather the financial crisis.

In August, Habtoor told Reuters the group had up to $1.3bn to invest in British banks and hotels in Europe. (Reuters)

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM