Dubai: Dubai Government owned sovereign wealth fund the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) has fully acquired National Bonds Corporation PJSC, a UAE-based Sharia-compliant savings scheme.
"Investment Corporation of Dubai's move to acquire full ownership of National Bonds stems from our confidence in the company's long-term potential as a dynamic and diversified savings scheme. We are also thankful to the previous shareholders for their valuable contribution in the scheme," said Mohammad I. Al Shaibani, executive director and CEO of the Investment Corporation of Dubai.
ICD gained full ownership after buying the remaining 50 per cent of shares from the company's local shareholders.
"ICD will bring more empowerment, progress and growth to National Bonds Corporation, which in turn will translate into even more benefits for our bondholders and the UAE community.
"We are certain that the new ownership will play a pivotal role in achieving our vision to become a global player leveraging the uniqueness of our scheme to fill up the huge vacuum abroad," said Khalifa Al Daboos, Chairman of National Bonds Corporation.
This acquisition comes at a time when the government of Dubai is considering the possibility of selling some shares in its star assets and profitable companies during its debt restructuring plans.
Following this acquisition a new five-member board of directors has been appointed by ICD.
National Bonds was established in 2006 as a private joint stock shareholding company.
Its primary shareholders were the Dubai Government, Emaar Properties, Dubai Bank and Dubai Holding. The company has investments in property such as the Dh1.5 billion Skycourts in Dubailand, the strata management company BCS, in the retail chain Souk Extra and in M'sharie, the private equity arm of Dubai Investments.
In 2009, National Bonds made over Dh2 billion in sales in 2010 with a growth of over 9 per cent. This brings the total number of bondholders up to 610,775, nearly 10 per cent of the UAE's total population or about 40 per cent of Dubai's.
Also formed in 2006, ICD is the investment arm of the Dubai Government.
It has a portfolio ranging across all spheres of the economy, including finance, transportation, utilities and energy, industrial, real estate and leisure. Its portfolio comprises all wholly or partly owned government businesses in Dubai, including Emirates airline and Dnata, Dubai Aluminum, Emirates NBD and others.
