Dubai World’s Limitless sets up office here.

Dubai World’s real estate arm, Limitless LLC, officially started operations at it new regional office here at UOB Plaza yesterday. It will use Singapore as a base to look for new investment opportunities here and in the region.

On route to Hanoi for the ground-breaking ceremony of its US$220 million Halong Star mixed development project in Vietnam, Limitless CEO Saeed Ahmed Saeed said yesterday: ‘Without doubt, South-east Asia is one of the most exciting and dynamic regions for Limitless. Its fast-growing economy presents us with endless opportunities to demonstrate our core skills of master planning large-scale, balanced projects and waterfront development.’

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(DUBAI) Nakheel PJSC, the Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based developer of the world’s biggest manmade islands, will buy UK real estate investment funds and start a real estate investment trust, or Reit, as it expands into property asset management.

Building growth: Nakheel CFO Quek Kar Tung said that Dubai properties yield as much as 12 per cent for investors, more than double the yield in Singapore

‘UK Reits are trading at a 30 per cent to 40 per cent discount now and that’s a huge opportunity,’ chief financial officer Quek Kar Tung said in an interview in Dubai on Sunday. ‘There’s no Reit market in Dubai yet, so we’ll be looking to build an international portfolio.’

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Dubai’s move will create global real estate group with US$52b of projects.

(DUBAI) Istithmar PJSC, a Dubai government-owned private equity investor managing US$10 billion, will merge its real estate investments with Nakheel PJSC, another property company owned by its parent.

‘The nature of the real estate assets that we have will be well served by being on Nakheel’s balance sheet,’ Linley Davidson, an Istithmar director, said on Sunday. The combination is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

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It will build houses, offices, shops in Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore.

(MUMBAI) Damac Properties, a closely held developer based in Dubai, plans to invest as much as US$5 billion in India over the next three years as a booming economy spurs demand for real estate.

The developer will construct houses, offices and shops in the Indian cities of Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore, chairman Hussain Sajwani said. The first project will be started in 12 months, he added.

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Investments could come after dust settles on mortgage crisis: governor.

(DUBAI) The Dubai government agency that bought into Deutsche Bank this year said it could invest in US banks, property and other sectors after the dust settles on a mortgage crisis that has cut asset prices.

Mr Omar bin Sulaiman: ‘The challenge is how low do we look.’

Banks that have reported losses from defaults on sub-prime, or high-risk mortgages, could be among the targets for DIFC Investments, which is helping drive Dubai’s push to build two of the world’s 10 largest financial institutions in eight years.

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Singapore chain in JV with Emaar group to operate cineplexes in up to 150 malls

Cathay Organisation has teamed up with Emaar Malls Group LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dubai’s Emaar Properties PJSC, in a major joint-venture deal that could see the local cinema chain operating cineplexes in as many as 150 shopping malls across the Middle East and beyond.

Going places: Standing in front of The Dubai Mall are (from left) Jason Matthews, chief strategy officer, Emaar Malls Group; Jim Badour, EVP asset management, Emaar Malls Group; Choo Meileen, executive director, Cathay Organisation; Rashid Zakaria Doleh, CEO, Emaar Malls Group; Suhaimi Rafdi, president, Cathay Organisation; and Teo Keng Beng, director, Cathay Organisation. Cathay is taking a 25% stake in the joint venture with Emaar.

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