Dubai Properties axes top executives

DUBAI: Dubai Properties Group, owned by the ruler of Dubai’s holding company, replaced several executives including its chief financial officer yesterday and pledged better corporate governance to improve operations.

Changes at the property firm – a unit of Dubai Holding, the private company of Dubai’s ruler – included new chiefs of financial affairs, marketing, legal affairs, operations and property development, it said in a statement.

A planned merger between three of Dubai Holding’s property firms – Dubai Properties, Sama Dubai and Tatweer – and Emaar Properties was called off on Dec 9, adding to uncertainty about the debts of Dubai state-linked firms.

Flagship conglomerate Dubai World, faced with a US$26bil debt pile, rocked global markets on Nov 25 after it indicated a need to restructure.

Dubai Holding has about US$1.9bil of debt maturing in the first half of next year.

Dubai Properties said yesterday it would set an advanced corporate government framework “to ensure efficiency”.

By Reuters