Dubai: Al Ghurair Investment, one of the biggest family-owned conglomerates in the UAE, is opening two new hotels on Wednesday as part of its expansion of Al Ghurair Center, the company vice-chairman said on Tuesday.

Al Ghurair Arjaan by Rotana and Al Ghurair Reyhaan by Rotana in Deira will have a combined total of 621 rooms, said Eisa Al Ghurair, vice-chairman of Al Ghurair Investment. The hotels are attached to Al Ghurair Center, one of the oldest shopping malls in Dubai.

Al Ghurair Investment, owned by Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, has recently appointed Constantin Salameh as group chief executive officer. It is the first time the company board has decided to appoint a group CEO.

His priority task is to introduce structural changes, starting by identifying the core and non-core businesses in the group, he said. Al Ghurair Investment operates eight business units including food, construction, properties, energy, printing, retail, education and resources.

Non-core business units could fall into different options: restructuring, signing up a new partner or selling it at the right price, he said. Asked to identify which units were core and non-core businesses, Salameh, who is in office for 40 days, said it was too early to decide now.

“Today we have more than 30 different operating countries, are we going to be leaders in all these 30 companies? Probably not. There might one or two where it’s better to exit but it’s to early to tell you which one,” Salameh said.

The company is also looking at how to create a “synergy” between its business units, he said.

Another major task is to improve corporate governance with plans in the next two to three years to have each unit report separately to a board, Salameh said.

“It is critical that we run this organisation exactly the same way as we run a publicly quoted company,” he said, referring to disclosure, planning and accountability.

Asked about the total revenues and financial outlook for next year, Salameh said: “I would not go to the board without at least double digit growth in both the top line and bottom line and we expect to over deliver on our budget so there is significant growth potential in existing businesses in core and non-core… the key now is you cannot be dominant in all sectors.”

From a balance sheet and cash slow perspective, the company is “in a very healthy position,” he said, adding that turnover is in the billions of dirhams.

Asked if the company would consider an IPO, Al Ghurair said: “We don’t want to upset anybody by going for an IPO and not delivering the result because it is the reputation of the family that is the most treasured thing for us. Maybe one day we will go for an IPO but we have to put everything into proper perspective then we go into the market.”

Salameh added that the company is self-funded, relying on shareholder equity and debt, and that the ratio between them is “healthy.”

“The economy is going to be better and better. All indicators show we’re going into a very positive year after year. 2014 will be even better. We’d have ironed out all the problems in the country by 2013,” Al Ghurair said.