Dubai Holding restructures management to spur growth

Dubai Holding has announced a management restructuring that will put in place a more flexible executive infrastructure to spur and support the growth of its entities.

In line with the highest standards of corporate governance, Dubai Holding has implemented succession plans for Dubai Properties, Tatweer, Sama Dubai, Dubai Group, Jumeirah Group and Dubai International Capital and TECOM Investments. Each of the entities now has its own chairman and a board of directors.

Mohammad Al Gergawi, executive chairman of Dubai Holding, said: "The chairmen and the boards will be responsible for setting the objectives and strategies for their respective entities. The boards will also maintain integrity through codes of ethics to safeguard the credibility and reputation of their entities and that of Dubai Holding."

Mr Gergawi added that the management restructuring has resulted in the creation of the following new positions:

• Hashim Al Dabal has been promoted to chairman of the board of directors of Dubai Properties. Mohamed Bin Brek succeeds him as CEO of Dubai Properties;

• Saeed Al Muntafiq has been promoted to chairman of the board of directors of Tatweer;

• Farhan Faraidooni has been promoted to chairman of the board of directors of Sama Dubai;

• Soud Ba'alawy has been promoted to chairman of the board of directors of Dubai Group, a newly established entity that includes Dubai Investment Group, Capital Investment Group and Noor Investment Group;

• Gerald Lawless has been promoted to chairman of the board of directors of Jumeirah Group; and

• Sameer Al Ansari has been promoted to chairman of the board of directors of Dubai International Capital. These appointments follow the recent promotion of Ahmad Bin Byat to chairman of TECOM Investments and Abdullatif Al Mulla as its CEO.

"The implementation of these succession plans will create flexible management environments that will not only support the sustained growth of Dubai Holding and its entities but also build better leaders for our future," Mr Gergawi said.

The management restructure comes at the end of a highly successful year for Dubai Holding and its entities. During 2006, a number of strategic investments and infrastructure projects were announced. This included TECOM's 20 per cent stake in Du, the latest UAE telecommunications provider, which witnessed a successful oversubscribed IPO.

In May and July, TECOM and Dubai Investment Group became large stake holders in Tunisia Telecom and Maltacom.

April 2006 saw the launch of Sama Dubai's "The Lagoons", a 70 million sq ft creekside destination in the heart of Dubai. This was followed in May by Tatweer's launch of Bawadi, a 10-km boulevard with the largest concentration of themed hotels in the world.

Dubai Properties' unveiled the Culture Village, a unique development offering an elite lifestyle in an intellectually stimulating environment, with year-round world class cultural events.

May 2006 also witnessed Dubai International Capital finalising the acquisition of the Doncasters Group, a leading international engineering group. In August, Dubai International Capital purchased UK-based Travelodge Hotels Ltd (Travelodge), Britain's fastest growing hotel company.

In September, Tatweer announced Mizin, the first real estate development and facility management company in the region. Tatweer followed up this announcement in December with plans to develop 'The Tiger Woods - Dubai', an exclusive golf community that will be home to 'Al Ruwaya', the first Tiger Woods designed golf course in the world.

Meanwhile, the Jumeirah Group announced three hotel management deals in 2006, in Shanghai, London and Thailand. It also acquired the Essex House hotel in New York, and announced plans to build The Jumeirah Hotel on London's South Riverbank.

Mr Gergawi concluded: "Dubai Holding's executive management has played a crucial role in realising these achievements. I am confident the new boards of directors and executives will lead the way towards more milestones and a prosperous future for Dubai Holding and its entities."