Dubai-based construction giant Arabtec Holding has announced it expects an application to liquidate the company will be submitted by the end of November, meeting a deadline set by shareholders.
A filing to the Dubai Financial Market by Antoine Abi Rached, the company’s general counsel and board secretary also said that the appointment of a trustee or liquidator will be subject to the “absolute discretion of the competent court which will consider the application to commence the process under the Federal Bankruptcy Law”.
The company, whose board of directors is due to discuss the liquidation process at a meeting planned for Monday, added that it was currently working to collate “the extensive number of documents” required to accompany the application for liquidation.
On September 30, Arabtec shareholders had voted to discontinue with the company and dissolve it due to its untenable financial situation.
The resolution of the shareholders granted the Arabtec board a maximum period of two months to allow for discussions with the main stakeholders and Arabtec expects to meet this deadline.
“The application will be submitted as soon as the application is complete as required by the law, therefore no date has been set for submission. That said, it is anticipated that the application is likely to be made within the two months period,” said Rached in the statement to the DFM.
He added that Arabtec is also using this period to determine which subsidiaries within the construction group will be included in the application.
Rached also said the company agreed with the continued suspension of trading on its shares on DFM.
The impact of the liquidation of Arabtec is expected to send “reverberations” throughout the industry, with the repercussions felt on a much wider scale than simply those who are directly involved with the company and its current pipeline of projects, analysts told Arabian Business at the time.
Arabtec Holding was valued at about AED30 billion ($8.17 billion) at its peak in 2014 and is now worth AED795 million, with the stock down 60 percent this year alone.
Earlier this month, Dubai’s Executive Council approved a new building code which seeks to reduce construction costs by streamlining building rules.
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