Abu Dhabi: Real estate developer, Arabtec, said on Tuesday that it did not have any information regarding the agreement between its former chief executive officer, Hasan Ismaik, and Aabar Investments to sell his stake in the company.
In a statement issued to the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) on Tuesday, Arabtec said, “[It is] a separate and independent company from all its shareholders including Aabar Investments PJS. Accordingly, Arabtec does not have the information requested in your letter since it does not relate to Arabtec or its projects or its operations, as this information relates to one of Arabtec’s shareholders.”
DFM had earlier requested information on the rumoured agreement regarding Aabar buying 600 million shares of Ismaik’s stake in Arabtec.
Gulf News tried to reach Ismaik for comment but he did not respond to phone calls.
On Monday, Arabtec share prices rose 3.7 per cent to reach Dh4.77 following a report that Ismaik agreed to sell half of his 27.9 per cent stake in the company at a price between Dh5 and Dh5.50 per share.
However, share prices remained flat on Tuesday.
Analyst Osama Al Ashry commented on Arabtec’s statement saying that it was not clear enough for investors.
“Investors have been hearing a lot of rumours on Arabtec, and this is not the first time that we see this lack of transparency on share ownership. Naturally, this pushes investors to a point where they can no longer be confident about buying or keeping their shares in the company,” he said.
Al Ashry, a member of UK organisation, Society of Technical Analysts, said that the announcement of listings by Emaar Malls has already pulled a lot of liquidity from the market.
“The market is already volatile, investors put their money on Emaar Malls, and investors know Arabtec is high risk, so I’m not surprised to see Arabtec’s performance today [Tuesday],” he said.
