Dubai's Financial Sector Gains New Venture

Eiffel Management, a french pioneer in France, and Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has launched Dubai's first Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) as a joint venture. Named Emirates REIT and based in the Dubai International Financial Centre, the trust will invest exclusively in high-quality, income-producing residential and commerical properties in Dubai, the companies said in a statement. It was also pointed out that a key feature of Sharia-compliant Emirates REIT is that at least 80 per cent of the company's net income must be returned to shareholders annually in the form of dividends. The trust will be regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority and governed by a board of directors comprising Abdulla Al Hamli, Dr Adnan Chilwan and Mohammed Al Sharif of DIB as well as Sylvain Vieujot from Eiffel Management and Mark Inch from Societe de la Tour Eiffel. "DIB is proud to support Emirates REIT, which will have a positive impact not only for the real estate sector but also the UAE's overall economic environment," said Mr Al Hamli. Emirates REIT will seek to attract investment in Dubai property through a number of channels while owners of real estate may also invest by contributing their assets in exchange for shares in the REIT, or by making cash contributions that will be used to acquire further assets.

The organisers of the Big 5 2010 building and construction show currently taking place in Dubai have claimed to be "very impressed" with the number of deals being announced, partnerships formed and new technologies and products that have been introduced to market during the event. Commenting on the exhibition, which runs until tomorrow (November 25th) at the Dubai World Trade Centre, event director Andy White said it had "firmly established itself as an unrivalled platform for regional and international companies to gain direct access to networking and the establishing of relationships that can lead to business in the future". Among the exhibiting companies to receive a mention was Italy's Levitiles, which has unveiled its brand new decorated crystal technology Venezia Arte at Big 5. This is described as an extremely high-resolution cold decoration system, which uses an exclusive inkjet printing system to deliver colour and decorative effects and a finished product with "unique technical characteristics and performance". Other exhibited technologies included the new FL650 Floor Rollforming Line from FrameCAD Solutions which is used in the production of optimised engineered fast track flooring systems.