Tamweel-Amlak merger to be complete in first quarter

Dubai: The long-planned merger between troubled Dubai mortgage firms Tamweel and Amlak is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2010, Tamweel's chairman said yesterday.

"The annual general meeting is the end of the year, the first quarter will be the right time for it," Shaikh Khaled Bin Zay-ed Al Nahyan said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Dubai.

He also said Tamweel's default rate had retreated from a peak of three per cent recently and "has been coming lower".

The UAE Government said it intended to merge Amlak and Tamweel in November 2008 and has been working on a plan to restructure the two companies.

Shaikh Khaled also said the government plans to invest Dh2 billion to Dh3 billion in the merger between Tamweel and Amlak.

Tamweel is the UAE's largest provider of real estate finance and got into trouble after the global downturn hit the UAE property market.

Amlak Finance is specialised in Islamic finance for homebuyers in the UAE and faced the same problems since the crisis started.