Nakheel, the Dubai based real estate developer, will not be considering the sale of any of its assets as it is now a profitable entity, its chairman said on Monday.
Having succeeded in pruning trade claims by 85%, Ali Rashid Lootah told a local business magazine that the company had managed to defer the sale of some assets it was supposed to have sold in 2008.
“My aim is not to sell, not to divest. We will increase our income from other sources – from selling land, new residential developments, more income from retail and leasing – to avoid it,” he told Gulf Business magazine.
“We have shown the government that we have made a good decision and that proof is that we’re profitable again. It’s real profit, its cash profit. That makes the difference.”
The company has settled $816.7m out of a total claim of $2.17bn from creditors, the report said, thereby saving 85% on claims.
“The remaining big boys, they put the big figures, but we’re confident it will be about the same [reduction],” Lootah said.
“We expect to bring it down to not exceeding $272m in total. We’re patient, I’m not in a hurry to pay – if they want to settle, they have to be reasonable,” he added.
Earlier this month, Nakheel said that its first half profits had jumped 36%, buoyed by property handovers. Net profit was reported at $208.82m in the first six months of 2012, up from $153m last year.
Revenues jumped up to $844m in the first half, up a 112% from the corresponding period in 2011.