Abu Dhabi’s Aldar plans to spend $1.36bn on deals this year

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• Aldar earlier reported annual profit up 21 percent year-on-year to 2.33 billion dirhams

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi’s Aldar Properties plans to spend at least 5 billion dirhams ($1.36 billion) this year acquiring assets in the retail and education that generate recurring revenues, its chief financial officer said on Wednesday.
Aldar, who counts Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala as a key investor, this month said it bought a shopping center in the UAE’s Ras Al Khaimah for 410 million dirhams.
“We would look to modestly leverage anything we went into but we want to deploy our 5 billion (dirhams) surplus capital ... as quickly we can,” Chief Financial and Sustainability Officer Greg Fewer said on a call with reporters.
“We see the richest pipeline in recurring revenue assets,” he said, and that developer of Abu Dhabi’s Formula One race track was also keen on residential and commercial property.
Fewer did not say where the investments would be made, but that Aldar was focused on the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Aldar earlier reported annual profit up 21 percent year-on-year to 2.33 billion dirhams, with revenue up 2 percent to 8.6 billion dirhams.
The results exclude that of Egyptian developer SODIC, which was acquired late last year by a consortium that included Aldar, the Abu Dhabi company said.