Taaleem wins DIFC judgement against Deyaar in Sky Gardens case

The education provider Taaleem has won a court judgement against Deyaar Development over the ill-fated sale of a stake in Sky Gardens, in one of the longest running cases heard by the DIFC Courts.

The judgement, which Deyaar has appealed against, may result in the developer being forced to pay in excess of Dh200 million in outstanding financing costs on the aborted transaction.

Taaleem launched a lawsuit against Deyaar in June 2010, claiming that the two companies had signed an agreement that involved Deyaar purchasing a stake in the luxury residential development Sky Gardens from Taaleem, and that the developer had already paid a premium of Dh72.1m on the property to the education provider.

Deyaar subsequently washed its hands of the transaction, claiming that no binding contract had been signed and that the premium was a refundable deposit.

In a summary of judgement handed down last month by Justice Sir David Steel, the court held that “a contractual agreement for transfer of [Taaleem]’s interest in the property (known as Sky Gardens) had been reached on 4 December 2008.”

The court also dismissed Deyaar’s contention that the transaction should be set aside on conflict of interest grounds, as both entities at the time shared the same chairman, Nasser Al Shaikh.

“There were no grounds for setting aside the transaction since the chairman of [Taaleem] and [Deyaar] had not brought about the transaction,” the summary of judgement read.

“In any event, no allegation of dishonesty had been made which was a necessary ingredient of any application to set aside the transaction on that ground.”

The DIFC Courts has yet to grant permission for the appeal to be heard.

Taaleem and Deyaar did not respond to requests for comment.

Taaleem's claim against Deyaar stemmed from the Dh1.64 billion acquisition of Sky Gardens in mid-2008 by a special purpose vehicle of Amlak, the Islamic home finance company, from First Dubai Real Estate, the developer.

A subsequent tripartite deal between Taaleem, National Bonds Corporation (NBC) and Amlak resulted in Taaleem acquiring a 33 per cent stake in the development, which would later be resold for profit, with NBC providing finance.

According to its claim, Taaleem said Deyaar signed an agreement later that year to acquire its stake at a premium, thereby assuming Taaleem’s debt to NBC.

Taaleem also alleged that Deyaar subsequently tried to rescind and terminate its acquisition, as property valuations in Dubai had begun to decline rapidly.

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