The Dubai government has taken control of the financial restructuring of Dubai Holding, pumping $2bn into a troubled conglomerate that once symbolised the Gulf emirate’s extravagant development.
The same elite committee that oversaw the $25bn restructuring of government-owned Dubai World has turned its attention to the emirate’s second large revamp – a lower-key restructuring of about $12bn in debts at the group of companies owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Dubai’s ruler.
According to Mohammed al-Shaibani, the powerful director of the ruler’s court, the government has already injected $2bn into Dubai Holding and is willing to put more capital into the lossmaking conglomerate that spans property, business parks and financial investments. However, it also expects banks to accept some of the pain, as was the case in the Dubai World restructuring.