Tatweer to launch foreign investment vehicle

Dubai leisure and entertainment giant Tatweer is to launch a new company to focus on the development of its international investment strategy, its executive chairman has told Arabian Business.

Saeed Al Muntafiq said the new company, Tatweer Investments, will be headed by the current CEO of Dubai Energy, Ahmad Sharaf, and will focus on the company’s portfolio abroad.

“The new team will have the sole job of thinking what we do north of 2010,” he said in an interview to be published on Sunday.

Al Muntafiq added that the new company would also allow Tatweer, a unit of state-owned Dubai Holding, to focus on ensuring the on-schedule completion of its Dubai projects.

“The challenge we are facing now is how to grow even further,” he said. “For the next three years we will be concentrating on ensuring we deliver our projects in Dubai.”

Founded in 2005, Tatweer is responsible for Dubai’s single largest development, Dubailand. Set for completion in 2016, the $65 billion project will include a series of theme parks and a Tiger Woods-designed golf course, as well as a 10km Vegas-style hotel strip called Bawadi.

The company has also invested $3.4 billion in Dubai Healthcare City, has a stake in Dubai Mercantile Exchange, and manages Dubai Industrial City.