Dubai builder Arabtec said its board will call a shareholders meeting to seek approval for a capital raise through a rights issue and sale of five-year convertible debt.

The largest builder in the United Arab Emirates by market value, said on Tuesday it will call an extraordinary shareholders meeting to consider an issue of 398.67 million shares at Dh1 a share to existing shareholders and sell $150 million worth convertible bonds.

The company's board of directors will meet on January 16, it said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi bourse.

Arabtec plans to use the proceeds to fund its expansion plans and increase working capital, the statement said.

Arabtec, which is bidding for $8.17 billion of work outside its local markets, may look at new funding sources for  its expansion plans, its chief financial officer told the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit in Dubai in October.

The company is expanding overseas to diversify its  portfolio away from Dubai's once-booming property sector which  has been hit hard by the global financial crisis as developers slow or cancel projects and jobs are slashed.

Property prices in Dubai have been under pressure since  late last year, when the financial crisis and a slump in oil  prices ended a six-year economic boom in the Gulf region.

Earlier in the month, Arabtec's chief executive Riad Kamal was handed a trading ban by the country's regulator, said he sold shares prior to the announcement of projects in May last  year as part of his portfolio reshuffle.-Reuters