Dubai Investments has two new deals in the pipeline

Dubai Investments is sitting on cash after divesting 66 per cent of its stake in the health care unit Globalpharma last month to the French company Sanofi for Dh385 million.

Dubai Investments plans to expand its farm capacity at Marmum Dairy Farm, above. Jaime Puebla / The National

Dubai Investments is looking at two new acquisitions by the end of this year.

The company declined to give further details as the deals are still under negotiation, it said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market.

Its shares closed at Dh3.35, down 7.20 per cent.

DI is sitting on cash after divesting 66 per cent of its stake in the health care unit Globalpharma last month to the French company Sanofi for Dh385 million. In the first quarter it reported net profits of Dh265m, up by 26 per cent, led by strong performances at its real estate and manufacturing units. In February, Dubai Investments Park Development Company issued a US$300m sukuk.

The conglomerate had cash reserves of more than Dh1 billion, it reported in its quarterly results.

“Several projects are under consideration,” said Khalid bin Kalban, the managing director and chief executive of DI. “We have a strong thrust in developing our real estate business.”

In May, the company said it was looking into business opportunities in Africa and Asia through investments, partnerships and joint ventures. Some of these are in Libya and Erbil in the Kurdish region of Iraq for mixed-use business parks similar to Dubai Investments Park. The overseas ventures are handled by DI International, which was set up last year.

With the construction sector picking up, DI’s other units also have an optimistic business outlook for the rest of the year.

Its Emirates Building Systems, which deals in fabrication and construction of steel structures, is targeting 10 per cent year-on-year growth over the next five years. It expects to expand in Saudi Arabia, where it will develop projects for Riyadh Public Transport and three petrochemical projects for Saudi Aramco. It is also working on “a number of Fifa 2022 stadium contracts in Qatar, petrochemical and commercial projects in Oman as well as residential and airport developments in the UAE”, according to the company’s website.

Its Emirates Insolaire unit, which manufactures coloured solar glass panels, is in the process of supplying 20,000 square metres of the panels to the European market.

It also owns Marmum Dairy Farm, which plans to expand its farm capacity, bottling lines, infrastructure and its local and international distribution network.

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