Mohamed Alabbar: Other Board Roles Not Affecting Emaar

Emaar Chairman Mohamed Alabbar has denied that his role on the board of other real estate companies is having an impact on the management of Dubai-based Emaar Properties.

“Yes, I am on the board of other real estate entities around the world. This has been the case for the past 20 years, it has never been an issue before and I don’t agree that it is an issue now,” he told Arabian Business magazine.

“What has changed maybe is that the projects now, such as in Serbia and Egypt, are far more high profile. But there is nothing wrong or unusual for a chairman to have other non-executive roles in other companies. Everything I have ever done has always been cleared by the board and within the law.”

In the last few weeks, rumours have been floating around that the chairman may leave Emaar due to his other commitments within the property sector. However the developer has categorically denied the reports.

Alabbar, who founded Emaar Properties in 1997, is also a founding partner of Capital City Partners (CCP), which is developing a $45 billion capital city in Egypt, and a board member at Abu Dhabi’s Eagle Hills, which is planning projects in Serbia, Nigeria and Bahrain.

“This is something that is a concern for us,” an Emaar shareholder told Reuters. “There is a conflict of interest. The chairman owns a company in the same field.”

However, Alabbar refuted the concerns

“These are all companies in real estate, a field in which I believe I have something to contribute and offer. I am not on the board of a technology or media or telecom company… When you ask specifically about projects such as the Belgrade Waterfront being done by Eagle Hills, I can categorically say that, there is absolutely no conflict of interest with Emaar,” he told Arabian Business.

Emaar, listed on the Dubai Financial Market, is the largest property developer in the emirate and has operations in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

The company, whose properties include Burj Khalifa – the world’s tallest tower and Dubai Mall, has total assets of nearly $20 billion and a land bank of more than 238 million sq m in international markets.

Currently, 54 per cent of Emaar’s revenues come from its shopping malls & retail and hospitality & leisure subsidiaries and international operations.

The developer reported a net profit of Dhs3.29 billion in 2014, up 28 per cent year-on-year, with full-year revenues reaching Dhs9.89 billion.