Dubai Investments subsidiaries gear up for real estate boom

Saudi American Glass – the leading processor of architectural flat glass in the Middle East, has announced a 50% increase in its production capacity to 1.4 million square metres of high-performance coated glass per annum while Lumiglass Industries – one of the leading processors in laminated safety glass in region, is enhancing its production capacity by 50%.

Emirates Building Systems is aggressively targeting the KSA market, and establishing two new offices this year – in Riyadh and Dammam. The company, which has won a number of new projects in KSA off late, will utilize the expanded production facility at its factory to cater to the real estate demands in UAE and GCC. EBS also announced that it is eyeing oil projects in Africa.

Emirates Extrusion is boosting its annual production to 6,000 metric tonnes through a new production line at its aluminium extrusion plant in Techno Park, Dubai while Gulf Dynamic Services and International Rubber Company have targeted strong year-on-year growth in 2014 – riding on the demand for their fit-out solutions and rubber insulation products.

Mr. Khalid Bin Kalban, Managing Director and CEO of Dubai Investments PJSC said: “The growth cycle in UAE’s real estate market has just begun. Generally, the real estate is a five-year growth cycle... and we are just at the start of the first year. So we still have four years of growth ahead of us. All indications show that this growth is sustainable. Naturally, this offers us a huge opportunity. DI has over 18 manufacturing companies which are mainly focused on the production of building materials and related construction products, and they are geared to cater to this inherent demand.”

Mr. Kalban added that Dubai Investments and its subsidiaries are also geared to handle the anticipated demand for Expo 2020 projects. “Dubai Investments Park’s [DIP] proximity to the main site of Expo 2020 works to our advantage. We believe that 2015 onwards there will be a pick-up in the construction activity related to Expo as the planning stage has just commenced. We are well positioned for this. We have the real estate and the related industry ready to support this,” he said.

Over 67% of DI’s asset base is in real estate and is currently worth over AED 8.38 billion – making DI one of the biggest real estate players in the UAE. DI also has one of the largest land banks across the UAE, totaling approximately 30 million square feet Gross Floor Area [GFA] and owned by its different subsidiaries – DIP; Dubai Investments Real Estate Company [DIRC]; Al Taif Investments; and Properties Investment LLC, a joint venture between DI and Union Properties.

The company had earlier announced plans to unveil iconic projects across the UAE on its land banks with projects in Meydan, Mirdif and Jumeirah Village Circle in Dubai, as also other developments in Fujairah and Sharjah. DI has already set new standards in its real estate portfolio by creating pioneering concepts such as the DIP, which is today a city-within-a-city and one-of-its-kind residential and business destination.