Time to merge

It's time for property developers to merge ... again.

A.T. Kearney put out a report today arguing that Middle East property developers to go from a "fragmented" industry to a a more "concentrated" group of larger companies. Emaar, Deyaar and Sorouh are "well placed to make some aggressive moves" in the UAE, while Dar al Arkan and Al Akaria from Saudi Arabia, Ezdan Real Estate in Qatar, and Al Mazaya in Kuwait are "all positioned to play a leading role in the consolidation process".

Here's the report:

The only problem is that this was also the case six months ago and six months before that. Across the UAE, analysts are arguing for big moves, dramatic mergers, and price cuts to help the market recover. So far, little of that has happened. Earlier today, I met with

Nicholas Maclean

and

Richard Foulds

of

CB Richard Ellis

. They laid it out in simple terms: many developers and landlords need to come to grips with the bad news and make decisions to get their buildings leased out or sold. The same goes for the big property companies: it's time to merge, again. The longer you wait to restructure or make a prudent business decision, the more it costs.