Riad Kamal, the chief executive officer of Arabtec Holding, has been suspended from buying UAE stocks for a period of six months.
The founder of the largest builder in the UAE by market value told Arabian Business that he had been faxed a copy of a circular from the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADSE), informing him of the ban.
“I have not been officially notified of anything, but I’ve seen the documentation which was sent to me indirectly. Nobody has told me anything,” he said in a telephone interview, adding: “I have absolutely no idea what this is about.”
Kamal said he would be contacting the Exchange tomorrow to find out more details.
“Once I have, and I have the information, I will be making a statement but until then, I really just don’t know what this is about.”
A spokesperson for ADSE was not immediately available for comment.
Arabtec earlier this week said it had won contracts worth AED623m ($169.6m) across three projects in the UAE.
The contractor has been at pains to diversify its operations outside Dubai’s once booming real estate market, recently announcing a joint venture with Bahrain’s Masawa Holding.
The company is bidding for $8.17bn of work outside its local markets.
Arabtec in November posted a 95.6 percent decline in third quarter net profit to AED6.8m ($1.85m), down from AED166.6m in the same period a year earlier.
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