UAE's Union Properties open to sell assets - report

Dubai's Union Properties is willing to sell all any of its projects if it receives a fair price, its chairman told UAE newspapers on Friday.

The third-largest developer in the Gulf Arab emirate has been hit by the global downturn, which has sent prices in Dubai's once-booming property sector tumbling some 50 percent from their peaks in 2008.

The developer has received offers for its Ritz Carlton hotel in Dubai which the debt-laden firm is hoping to sell for about AED1.5bn ($408.4m).

"The company's complete projects have achieved their investment targets, and it's not strange that we offer them to investors for sale particularly as we have giant projects under way," Khalid bin Kalban told the Arabic daily al-Bayan.

"Buyers are mainly investment companies and individuals who are looking to buy complete and rented properties with an income of 7-8 percent," he added.

In a separate interview with the UAE Arabic daily al-Ittihad, Kalban said the funds raised from asset sales will be used to repay financial commitments and finance ongoing property projects.

The firm posted a third consecutive quarterly loss on provisions for contracting and property revaluation. It has 6.5 billion dirhams of outstanding debt, of which 2.8 billion had been rescheduled for payment to 2011 from 2009, with the remainder maturing in the long-term. (Reuters)