By Matt Smith
Dubai Investments aims to raise $300 million from a debut sale of Islamic bonds by the end of 2013 after delaying a similar plan early this year due to rising interest rates, its chief executive said.
The conglomerate, which has interests in several sectors including property and manufacturing, had in April picked Citigroup Inc, Nomura and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co to help arrange the sale.
"We are in the final stage of application to the various markets. I'm hoping that it should be done this year," Khalid bin Kalban told reporters on Monday.
"This (sukuk sale) is delayed because interest rates climbed up. We are targeting a specific interest rate. Once we achieve it we will go into the market, otherwise there's no point. It has come down to lower than the level we expected."
The company, whose manufacturing business was hit by political unrest in the Gulf Arab region, has been eyeing a sukuk issue since last year to finance expansion of some manufacturing units and repay debt.
Stake sales
Kalban reiterated that plans to offload stakes in two of the conglomerate's units were still on track despite an apparent delay - in April, he said the sales would be completed by September-end and that combined they would raise about 700 million dirhams ($190.58 million).
"By the end of the year everything will be sealed," said Kalban. "This is a big transaction. The delay is from the lawyers not from us."
He said one deal would raise around 500 million dirhams and the other 200 million dirhams, but declined to identify the companies in which Dubai Investments is planning to sell stakes or the proposed buyers.
Kalban was speaking at the launch of a new subsidiary Emirates Insolaire, which is a joint venture between Dubai Investments and Switzerland technology firm SwissINSO to produce solar panels.
The panels will be manufactured at Dubai Investments' existing plants in the Gulf, which will produce 300,000 square metres of the glass in 2014, Kalban said.
Shares in Dubai Investments were trading 2.4 percent higher on the Dubai bourse at 1050 GMT.
Follow us on Twitter: @ALB_TheBrief.
