Dubai Holding ‘to look at US acquisitions’ for first time since downturn
Holding company says ‘new technologies’ in the US are a potential area of interest
Dubai Holding is considering making acquisitions in the United States for the first time since the financial crisis, Bloomberg reported.
The holding company, owned by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said “new technologies” in the US were a potential area of interest as it looked to diversify outside its home market.
“We may go back into the US,” said vice chairman and managing director Ahmad Bin Byat, Bloomberg reported. “Dubai Holding will continue to invest outside Dubai for diversification purposes. When you become as big as us, you have to do that.”
Prior to the financial crisis, government-related entities amassed overseas assets such as luxury retailers Barneys New York Inc, the US hotel and casino group MGM Resorts International and the Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Soleil.
A number of assets were then sold when the crisis hit. In 2012, the Dubai Holding’s Dubai Group unit sold the Jumeirah Essex House, an 80-year old hotel on Mahattan’s Central Park South, to Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc for $362.3 million.
