Ex Arabtec CEO Plans Sale Of Remaining Stake, Seeks Premium Price

The former chief executive of Dubai-listed construction firm Arabtec Holding plans to sell his remaining stake in the company, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

However, Hasan Ismaik will only offload the shares, representing 11.8 per cent of the company and worth around $540 million at current market prices, if he is paid at least the price he received when he sold a stake of about 16 per cent to Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments earlier this month, the source added.

That price, of Dhs5 per share, is a significant premium to where the stock currently trades. Arabtec shares closed at Dhs3.74 on Wednesday and have not closed at or above Dhs5 since June 12.

“Ismaik will not sell the shares in the market which is still weak. But if he gets an offer at a good price, he will sell,” the source said, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Asked if Dhs5 per share was a good price, the source said “that is the minimum”.

Ismaik did not respond to calls seeking comment. An Aabar spokesman declined comment when asked if the company would consider buying Ismaik’s remaining stake in Arabtec.

A stock market announcement on Nov. 11 said Aabar had become Arabtec’s largest shareholder after hiking its stake to 34.93 per cent through the purchase of shares from Ismaik.

The move helped end some of the uncertainty around the company’s ownership, prompted by the sudden resignation of Ismaik in June amid talk of a fall-out between the former chief executive and state-owned Aabar, which had been using its influence to secure the contractor a number of major projects.

This included a $40 billion contract with the Egyptian government to build 1 million homes in the North African country.

Aabar is owned by Abu Dhabi state investment fund International Petroleum Investment Co.