Aldar Properties sells Abu Dhabi Golf Complex and Westin Hotel for Dh180m

Property company wants to recycle profits earned on earlier investments into new ventures

The Abu Dhabi Golf Club complex and the Westin Hotel were sold to an unnamed financial buyer for Dh108m. Courtesy of Aldar Properties

Abu Dhabi's Aldar Properties is selling the Abu Dhabi Golf Club Complex and the Westin Hotel to an unnamed financial buyer for Dh180 million (Dh49m).

The sale price was a 13 per cent increase on the price the company paid for the asset as part of a wider deal with Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development Company two years ago. The complex also includes 46,542 square metres of residential development land.

“We are very pleased to have successfully conducted the sale of this luxury hospitality complex, a testament to our team’s ability to create value through active management, despite challenges to the hospitality and tourism industry from Covid-19,” Jassem Busaibe, chief investment officer of Aldar Properties, said.

Aldar Properties, the UAE's biggest listed property developer with $10 billion in assets and a 75 million square metre land bank, said the sale of the complex is in line with its asset management strategy of pursuing profitable exits from investments and redeploying the capital elsewhere.

"We will continue to pursue opportunities for significant growth and further diversification of the Aldar Properties portfolio,” Mr Busaibe said.

The Abu Dhabi Golf Club hosts the annual Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, which has been part of the PGA European Tour since 2006. It houses an 18-hole championship and a nine-hole garden course, which is licensed and has a technical service agreement with Troon International.

The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort and Spa is a five-star hotel with six restaurants, 172 rooms, conference facilities and a spa. The hotel was built in 2011.

Earlier this month, Aldar Properties also sold two district cooling companies to Abu Dhabi's National Central Cooling Company, known as Tabreed, for Dh963m. Following publication of its third quarter results in November, when it reported an 8 per cent increase in net profit to Dh416m on the back of a 30 per cent jump in sales to Dh2.1bn, chief financial officer Greg Fewer told reporters the company can use its strong balance sheet to take advantage of potential market disruption.

“If you look historically through our history here in the Abu Dhabi real estate sector, times of crisis and dislocation always give rise to opportunities for corporate action or combination,” he said.