Abu Dhabi: Former Chief Executive Officer at Arabtec, Hasan Ismaik, confirmed that he is currently in talks with Aabar Investments to sell his stake in the company, but that no resolution has been reached yet.

“I still haven’t sold my stake [in Arabtec], but yes, I’m in discussions now, and as soon as an agreement is reached, we will send out a press release with the details. A price of Dh5 per share is not an option for me, so we’re still in discussions about the price,” Ismaik told Gulf News over the phone.

He added that he has neither considered a price for the shares, nor the amount of shares that he will sell.

Ismaik had resigned from his position as managing director and CEO on June 18 following a period of weak performance of the company’s stocks on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) that saw prices drop from over Dh8 to nearly Dh4.

Upon resignation, Ismaik retained his 28.85 per cent stake in the company, making him the largest shareholder.

His resignation put the company’s corporate governance on the spotlight, and was met with scepticism from many shareholders and analysts who said the company should have explained the reason behind it.

A few days later, Arabtec terminated the contracts of hundreds of employees including a number of managers. The day saw a 9.9 per cent plunge in share prices as investors continued to question the company’s transparency.

The management turmoil between mid-May and early July resulted in a 70 per cent plunge in share prices.

In early July, the construction giant held a press conference during which Chairman Khadem Al Qubaisi confirmed that the company has not terminated any projects, and retained Aabar’s support. He assured that Arabtec will increase its transparency with shareholders.

However, on July 17, Arabtec was suspended from trade on DFM due to ambiguity on share ownership. The company returned to trade the next session, announcing on the DFM website that it is considering many options regarding investments, but did not confirm any news.

On Wednesday, Arabtec share prices climbed 4.81 per cent — the greatest increase since the beginning of August — to reach Dh4.79. Arabtec also topped the market in terms of both value and volume of trade, with Dh1.16 billion worth of trade — making up 63 per cent of the total market trade value.

Share prices started the day at Dh4.6 and rose slowly to reach a high of Dh4.94 at around 12.30pm. However, this was followed by a steady decline till the market closed.