Emaar plans to sell shares in its hotels business, the company’s chairman says, following news that the initial public offering (IPO) of the developer’s malls unit was Dubai’s biggest in seven years.
Mohammed Alabbar said details of an IPO of Emaar Hotels will be announced “in the next few months”, Bloomberg reported.
The executive, speaking on Monday at the Dubai International Project Management Forum, did not give further details.
Emaar Hotels and Resorts, established in 2005, is behind the flagship Armani Hotel at Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
A share sale in the hotels unit would follow the recent IPO of Emaar Malls Group, which Emaar said had raised $1.6bn.
According to Reuters, that IPO was the largest in the Gulf since the Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma’aden) raised $2.47 billion from its flotation in July 2008 on the Saudi stock exchange. The offering is also the largest in the UAE since port operator DP World’s $4.96 billion offering in 2007.