Emaar may rise on mall spin-off report

Shares in Dubai's Emaar Properties may rise on a report the developer is planning to spin off its malls unit and Turkish business, but the company said it does not have immediate plans for this.

The builder of the Dubai Mall will list its shopping-centre business on the emirate's exchange when market conditions are favorable, and the Turkish unit probably will be listed in Istanbul, Bloomberg reported without naming its sources.

"There are no plans for such listings in the immediate term and any such decisions will be taken based on strategic requirements of the Group, and subject to all mandatory approvals," a spokesperson for the company said in a statement to Reuters.

Another source close to the company told Reuters that a spin-off of the malls business was an option that Emaar had considered for years, but it was unlikely to happen for now because of soft stock market conditions in the United Arab Emirates.

However, some retail investors may buy Emaar shares to speculate on the possibility of an eventual spin-off. The stock rose 45.9 percent in 2012 as Dubai's property prices began to recover, and it has gained 8.5 percent so far in January.

"This is ideally something that would increase transparency and diversification of the market, which would benefit the liquidity in the market due to the fact that both business units of Emaar are of interest for long-term institutional investors," says Marwan Shurrab, vice-president and chief trader at Gulfmena Investments.

"This could play as a positive catalyst for further accumulation on the stock at this level."

Dubai-based property lender Amlak Finance is in talks with creditors to restructure debts of around AED7bn (US$1.9bn), in the latest attempt to resurrect a victim of Dubai's property crash, sources told Reuters.

Amlak's shares were suspended from trading in 2008, as real estate prices began to slump.

In more UAE news, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) confirmed the shutdown of one of its platforms in the UK North Sea, after discovering oil within a platform leg, but there was no environmental spill, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

In Saudi Arabia, Saudi Cement may rise after it posted a better than expected 31.4 percent rise in its fourth-quarter net profit and beat analysts' estimates.

Asian shares erased modest gains to edge lower on Wednesday as cautious investors waited for more clues about the global growth outlook, while a pause in the yen's declines spurred profit taking in Japanese equities after their recent rally.