Nearly eight months after the process was undertaken, the merger of Emaar Properties with Emaar Malls will happen on November 21.
The two companies conveyed the decision to Dubai Financial Market on Thursday, after the companies received no objections and met all the conditions for the merger.
The boards of the two companies, which trade as Emaar and Emaar Malls on DFM, first announced their intention to merge in March.
All of the conditions for the merger between Emaar Properties and its retail arm Emaar Malls have been met, with November 21 being the date set for the shares swap to be done. Following this, the de-listing of Emaar Malls – which lists The Dubai Mall and the upcoming Dubai Hills Mall – will happen.
“There are no objections on the merger,” Emaar Malls said in a statement. (Investors have cheered the bit of news, with Emaar Properties’ share going past 1 per cent in early Thursday trades.)
This will be the second biggest such merger happening on DFM in the last 12 months – earlier, there was the one between the Dubai master-developer Meraas and DXB Entertainments, the owner of Dubai Parks and Resorts.
Earlier, the UAE regulator SCA (Securities & Commodities Authority) had cleared the transaction. This move allows Emaar Properties to bring back an asset-heavy subsidiary back into its fold in full, and this way better leverage its future funding requirements.
Dubai Hills Mall is the next big retail and entertainment destination for Dubai, adding another 2 million square feet of space in the sector. There will be more than 700 stores, with the mall serving a growing resident base in the surrounding neighborhood of Dubai Hills.