Emaar Properties PJSC to raise $2.45 billion in public offering of a stake in malls

Emaar Properties PJSC (EMAAR), the company that built the highest skyscraper in the world, announced it projects to raise up to $2.45 billion in a public offering of a 25% stake in shopping malls and retail business.

The builder is profiting from tourism and the boom in Dubai’s retail sector, while the number of visitors and volume of sales at company’s malls increased. The malls and retail business registered a 20% climb in revenue, with the figure reaching 2.84 billion dirhams ($0.59 billion) last year and the Dubai Mall lured 75 million visitors.

“Emaar’s shopping malls and retails subsidiary is our high-performing business, which derives its growth impetus from the sustained growth of Dubai,” Mohamed Alabbar, the Chairman of Emaar Properties, said in the statement, cited by Bloomberg News.

The e-mailed statement by the Emaar Properties pointed that an estimated 8 billion dirhams ($2.18 billion) to 9 billion dirhams, which were generated from the secondary public offering in company’s malls and retail unit, are to be distributed to the shareholders in the form of a dividend.

Emaar also proposed a cash dividend of 15% of the company’s share capital for 2013.

Emaar Properties is the most recent business entity in the United Arab Emirates to dispose of rising markets and asset prices in order to plan public offerings. Emirates Reit, the region-based real estate investment trust, is expected to sell Emaar’s shares on Nasdaq Dubai (DPW) in the first initial public offering in the sheikdom in five years, the same media reported. The builder is expecting at least 500 million dirhams purposed for investments and acquisitions.

As of 4:24 ET on March 16th Emaar’s share price rose 5.31% to reach 9.120 AED (United Arab Emirates Dirham) on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM).