Mubadala converts Aldar bonds to boost capital
Abu Dhabi, February 19, 2013
Abu Dhabi's Aldar Properties , which plans to merge with smaller rival Sorouh Real Estate, on Tuesday said its largest shareholder Mubadala converted bonds in the company to shares, boosting its capital by nearly 10 percent.
State-owned investment fund Mubadala converted the bonds at a price of 1.75 dirhams per share, Aldar said in a bourse statement, resulting in an increase in capital to 4.48 billion dirhams ($1.22 billion) from 4.085 billion dirhams earlier.
Shares in Aldar, which has been bailed out by the Abu Dhabi government over the past two years with around $10 billion in funding, closed at 1.54 dirhams on the Abu Dhabi bourse Monday.
The stock has fallen 5.5 percent since a state-backed merger with Sorouh was agreed on January 21.
Abu Dhabi's two biggest property firms agreed on an all-share merger in January, aimed at reviving the emirate's battered real estate sector, creating a business with $13 billion in assets.
Both companies will hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to vote on the proposed merger on Feb. 21. The effective date of the merger has been set for June 30. - Reuters
