Emaar planning to float Egypt and hotels units

Dubai's Emaar Properties plans to float its Egyptian unit in about June 2015 and may also take its hotels subsidiary public after the successful listing of its malls and retail business, the company's chairman said yesterday.

Emaar, Dubai's largest listed property developer, sold a 15.4 per cent stake in Emaar Malls Group (EMG) in an initial public offer (IPO) last month, raising $1.6 billion following huge investor demand. The shares ended 12.1pc higher on their stock market debut yesterday.

This week, local media quoted its chairman Mohamed Alabbar as saying that the hotels unit could follow in a few months. However, yesterday, Alabbar declined to indicate any timetable for the flotation.

"Emaar Hospitality is going to go public when the board of the company decides. The percentage, size and when - all of that I will come back to you with. But the intention is to move forward as soon as possible," he said on the sidelines of an event to mark the start of trading in EMG.

"We are in the business of enhancing shareholder value," Alabbar said. "If there is value to be created for shareholders, then that is what we will do."