Gulf Capital moves into property

Gulf Capital, an investment firm in Abu Dhabi,

, the developer of the $1.7bn Time Warner Center in New York City, to build up to five projects in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh over the next five years.

Karim el Solh, Gulf Capital's chief executive, expects the projects to cost between Dh2bn to Dh5bn, half of which will be corraled from investors and half of which will come in the form of bank loans. Following initial investments in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, Mr el Solh said the venture, called Gulf Related, may expand to other cities and countries in the GCC.

It's an interesting and somewhat surprising move for Gulf Capital. The venture marks the first foray into property for the firm, which heretofore had concentrated on private equity deals in the region - earlier this month, it raised Dh1.75bn in commitments for a new private equity fund.

The announcement also comes at what might seem a strange time, when property values across the region are sagging and a lack of cash available for lending at the banks is making getting the loans Gulf Related plans to rely on to finance its projects hard to come by. But Mr el Solh said he expected conditions to improve during the year or so it's going to take for the firm to study the market and partner with developers in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. And he said a severe shortage of housing in both Abu Dhabi and Riyadh should make the projects viable despite the downturn in prices.

Another lingering question: how Gulf Related will get the land on which to build these huge  developments, which are to include retail, commercial and residential space. The plan, according to Gulf Capital, is to ink agreements with developers that have large land banks that haven't yet been earmarked for development. In Abu Dhabi, that would probably mean going after plots owned by Aldar, Sorouh or Mubadala, all of which own extensive unused tracts of land. This is definitely one to watch.

(Pictured above: Karim el Solh, chief executive of Gulf Capital; photo supplied)