Abu Dhabi state-fund Aabar Investments bought a 21.6 percent stake in Dubai builder Arabtec for a value of AED827.6m ($225.32m), an income statement by the fund’s parent firm IPIC showed on Thursday.
The stake purchase shows Aabar valued Arabtec at around $1bn. Arabtec currently has a market value of $1.2bn following an 88-percent surge in the share price in 2012.
Aabar, which owns stakes in high-profile names such as German carmaker Daimler and commodities trader Glencore, has been quietly building its stake in Arabtec this year through market purchases.
The Abu Dhabi firm first raised its Arabtec stake to disclosure levels in March when it emerged it owned 5.3 percent in the builder. It later doubled the stake to 10.5 percent through another subsidiary. Arabtec eventually said in May that the fund owns a 20.8 percent stake in the company.
Aabar had dropped a $1.7bn bid for a 70-percent stake in Arabtec two years ago. Months later, Aabar delisted from the Abu Dhabi bourse after it was taken private by IPIC.
Arabtec may also secure joint projects from Aabar on the back of a $2bn deal signed between the fund and China State Construction Engineering Corp this year, the income statement showed.
The deal would develop real estate projects in Abu Dhabi and would “identify potential joint projects including those in which Arabtec Holding may be involved”, said the statement.
The agreement signed in May would see Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd providing Aabar with funding, while China State Construction will be the contractor.
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