Damac Properties to stop trading on DFM from February 15 amid continued losses

The company's 2021 net loss narrowed to $144.6m

Damac Properties narrowed its 2021 net loss amid the launch of new projects including Damac Lagoons. Pawan Singh/The National

Shares of property developer Damac Properties will stop trading on the Dubai Financial Market from February 15 after a notice period to take the company fully private ended on Monday.

Maple Invest, a vehicle fully-owned by Damac’s founder Hussain Sajwani, submitted a notice in December for the mandatory acquisition of all its shares and the period specified for objections from current shareholders has expired, the developer said in a statement to the DFM.

“As of today … neither Damac nor Maple has received any objection to the mandatory acquisition."

“Damac will instruct the DFM to suspend trading of its shares with effect from Tuesday, February 15, 2022 and all remaining Damac shares (not already held by Maple) will be re-registered in the name of Maple in Damac’s share register as of February 20," it said.

Maple submitted the offer to take the company private by acquiring its entire issued and paid-up ordinary share capital in October, after Damac's board unanimously recommended its minority shareholders accept the founder's offer.

Mr Sajwani, who owns 72 per cent of the Dubai company, said in June that he would buy the remaining shares of Damac for Dh1.3 per share for a total consideration of $595 million.

The move comes as the developer struggles to remain profitable amid tougher property market conditions during the pandemic-induced slowdown and preceding softness on the back of lower oil prices.

On Monday, the company said it narrowed its net loss for the 2021 financial year to Dh531m ($144.6m) from Dh646m recorded a year earlier.

Total revenue for the reporting period fell to Dh3 billion from Dh4.7bn reported at the end of 2020, it said in a separate regulatory filing.

Booked sales performance, however, improved at the end of 2021 to Dh7.8bn against Dh2.3bn it reported in 2020, as the company launched new development projects such as Cavalli Tower, a 70-storey skyscraper overlooking Palm Jumeirah and a new master community development Damac Lagoons.