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Dubai: Deyaar Development PJSC, the Dubai real-estate company whose former chief executive officer is under detention, ended an Indian property development contract with Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Ltd.
The deal was scrapped on May 6 by "mutual consent" and Deyaar is in talks with other potential partners to invest in the "attractive" Indian market, Deyaar chairman Nasser Bin Hassan Al Shaikh said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market on Wednesday.
Deyaar's former chief executive officer Zack Shahin and two other officials are being detained and questioned in connection with an alleged embezzlement. Deyaar, Dubai's third-biggest publicly traded real estate developer, won't be affected by an ongoing investigation into alleged fraud at the company, its chairman said in a statement May 1.
Original plan
Deyaar announced the agreement with Ansal in May 2007 to build "mixed-use townships" in India. The company's plan to participate in the Indian real estate market remains on track, it said yesterday.
The parting was "amicable", Kunal Benerji, president of marketing and corporate communications at Ansal said in a phone interview from India. "It's just that we are not tying up at this stage. There is no real reason for it."
Deyaar shares fell 1.3 per cent to Dh2.34 at 11:56 a.m. on the Dubai Financial Market on Wednesday.
Deyaar, which is 41 per cent owned by Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, has benefited from surging demand for housing in the UAE since 2002 when foreigners were allowed to buy property in some parts.
Property values quadrupled over the last five years, Al Mal Capital said in a real estate report on March 9.
Baqir Abdul Wahid, Dubai Public Prosecution's head of public relations, was not available to comment on the probe.
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