A government body evaluating the assets of troubled Dubai mortgage firms Tamweel and Amlak, due to merge under the newly created Emirates Development Bank, will complete its work early next year, said a report.

The committee had until the end of February to give its final assessment of the two Islamic lenders' share prices and the framework to decide the shareholder rights, al-Ittihad said citing senior finance ministry official Younis al-Khouri.

Officials from the two firms did not comment on the report focusing on an aspect of the merger process, which is being managed by the ministry.

The UAE government said last month it was combining Amlak and Tamweel as well as its Real Estate Bank and Emirates Industrial Bank into Emirates Development Bank.

The government said it would hold a majority stake in the new bank and suspended trading in the shares of the two firms. The report did not give a timeframe for the merger.

'The merger operation will be decided by the two companies' shareholders at general assemblies,' Ittihad quoted Khouri as saying.-Reuters