KG Group, a leading manufacturer and distributor of products for the automotive, logistics and cement and mining industries, has acquired a major stake in Virtue Properties, a Dubai-based boutique real estate development company.

Virtue Properties had last year delivered the Dh75-million ($20.4 million) mixed-use project, City Apartments, at the Jumeirah Village Circle.

The City Apartments complex features 67 one-bedroom apartments that come with covered car parking, swimming pool, health club and three retail units including an anchor store.

The layout of the apartments offers optimum use of space for families to be able to store goods and still have ample space to move around and live, said the statement from the company.

With the new stake buy, Virtue Properties has expanded its shareholder base with the inclusion of K Gupta and and Rohit Gupta, who have taken over their new positions as chairman and vice-chairman respectively.

The expansion of the shareholder base will help the company to grow faster by undertaking new development projects, said the company in its statement.

These new shareholders not only bring new resources to the company, but also years of expertise in real estate development business, it added.

Welcoming the new members, Virtue Properties CEO Youssef El Kurdi said: "With the restructuring of the company’s board, we will soon announce new residential and hospitality projects in Dubai."

“We are currently planning to develop one hotel and a residential building within the land bank of Dubai Holding and one tower in JVC, where we have already delivered our maiden project, City Apartments," he noted.

On the JVC project, El Kurdi said: "The architectural design at City Apartments is so good that each one-bedroom apartments offer a guest toilet in addition to the big bathroom attached to the bedroom, a kitchen, a terrace or balcony."

"Besides, in the living room, you have enough space for dining and home entertainment, something that you do not see in a 850-sq-ft apartment," he observed.
 
“The success of the City Apartments as well as a few other villa projects and our ongoing Virtue projects has inspired us to develop more projects in Dubai and with the expansion of our board, we are ready to spearhead the development of the new projects,” he added.
 
According to him, the partnership between KG Group and Virtue Properties reflect in the growing investor confidence in Dubai’s real estate.

This will help Virtue Properties undertake ambitious real estate and hospitality projects that in turn will help Dubai economy, he added.
 
Rohit Gupta said the decision to invest in Dubai’s real estate sector comes from the firm belief in the emirate’s property sector which is now the most regulated real estate sector in the region and which showed signs of maturity.

"The current market situation provides ideal market opportunities for new investors like us and we are very excited about this," he stated.
 
“KG Group celebrates 30 years of business growth in the UAE and we also grew in this country along with its economy. It is therefore, a logical expansion of our portfolio and we are proud of our partnership with Virtue Properties,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service