Aldar acquires Nurai Island Resort and other Abu Dhabi islands

Aldar Properties has expanded its hospitality portfolio with the acquisition of Nurai Island Resort, as well as two new Abu Dhabi islands intended for residential development.

Abu Dhabi’s biggest listed developer said it will undertake a refurbishment plan and extend the hospitality and food and beverage offering at Nurai Island Resort.

The two islands within the Abu Dhabi archipelago are “envisioned to be developed with high-end, luxury beachfront villas”, the developer said on Friday.

“The acquisition allows Aldar to tap into an operational luxury offering that is highly attractive to select clientele,” it said.

Nurai Island Resort is the company’s first beachfront hospitality asset in Abu Dhabi and its second in the UAE. In April, it bought the Rixos Bab Al Bahr hotel in Ras Al Khaimah in a Dh770 million ($210m) deal.

Nurai Island, completed in 2015, is located two kilometres off the coast of Saadiyat Island and is accessible by a 10-minute boat ride or by helicopter.

As well as the luxury resort, the island also includes third party-owned water and estate villas, a selection of which form part of the hotel’s rental pool with rental-sharing agreements.

“The multifaceted element of the deal provides us with significant room for both development potential and operational improvements on an existing and ready to perform luxury asset,” said Jassem Busaibe, chief executive at Aldar Investment.

“It also allows us to leverage our asset management and execution capabilities to drive further value, as we continue to deploy capital effectively and drive forward with our ambitious growth agenda.”

Last year, Aldar adopted a new group operating model and organised its business into two segments. Aldar Investment is responsible for managing its Dh22 billion portfolio of recurring income assets, including its hospitality portfolio, while Aldar Development is responsible for building the company's 75 million-square-metre land bank.

The acquired islands “will attract holiday home buyers as well as buy to let investors, who will command a premium for their properties within a niche section of the short-term letting market”, said Jonathan Emery, chief executive at Aldar Development.

Earlier this week, Alpha Dhabi Holding, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-listed conglomerate International Holding Company, increased its stake in Aldar Properties to become the parent company of the property developer.

Inside a Dh45m Nurai Island villa — in pictures

Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'

Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.

Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.

"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.

"It is not just limited to science or maths but it is involved in all subjects and it is helping children to adapt to integral moral practises.

"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."

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Farage on Muslim Brotherhood

Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.