Shareholders in Emaar Properties, Dubai's largest listed developer, approved on Monday a special cash dividend totalling 9 billion dirhams ($2.45 billion), it said in a statement.

The dividend, which was approved at the firm's ordinary general meeting, was related to the flotation earlier this year of a stake in Emaar Malls Group (EMG), a unit of Emaar Properties.

EMG listed 15.4 percent on the Dubai Financial Market, raising $1.58 billion from the sale, which was well covered by investor bids.

Emaar had proposed distributing 5.3 billion dirhams of proceeds from the initial public offering to shareholders, as well as 3.7 billion dirhams of dividends paid by EMG to Emaar prior to the listing.

The dividend is equivalent to 1.27 dirhams per share, Emaar had said previously.