Dubai’s Arabtec says ex-CEO is not joining board
Shares fall as contractor says rumours concerning Hasan Ismaik are false
Arabtec on Monday dispelled rumours that its ex-CEO is to join its board, prompting a new fall in the contractor’s volatile Dubai-listed stock.
The company said there was no plan for Hasan Ismaik to join the board, amid speculation that had seen massive gains in its share price.
“All rumours regarding the appointment of Mr Hasan Ismaik as chairman/member of the board of directors of Arabtec are false and are not based on any true facts or events,” Arabtec said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market.
“Moreover, we are not anticipating any change to the board of directors of Arabtec at this stage.”
Ismaik recently raised his stake in the contractor to 11.91 per cent from 11.81 per cent, helping push the stock up 42% last week, and 13% yesterday, according to Reuters data.
But today’s statement to the bourse pushed Arabtec shares down by more than 2% at around 12.15pm local time.
The company has undergone two years of upheaval, management changes and restructuring. It posted a $626m loss in 2015, and is pursuing a long-running restructuring and cost-reduction programme.
Arabtec has had a series of contract wins recently, notably a joint venture with Turkey’s TAV Construction to build a passenger terminal at Bahrain International Airport. But a massive project worth $40 billion to build homes in Egypt has so far failed to materialise.
