Monday, December 7, 2009

Dubai Pounded, Again

The vultures are swarming over Dubai World assets, which include everything from Barney's Department store, The New York W hotel and The New York Mandarin Oriental hotel to a chunk of Madame Tussauds Wax Museums.

Shares traded in Dubai fell sharply on today, led by a 10% drop in shares of Emaar, the property developer behind Burj Dubai, the world's tallest tower, which is scheduled to open next month, reports MarketWatch.

The DFM index, the benchmark for the Dubai Financial Market, closed 5.84% lower at 1,744.83.

Also today, Reuters reported that Dubai's finance chief told Al Jazeera television that Dubai World might sell some of its foreign assets to meet its obligations, but that the Dubai government won't sell any assets for that purpose.

Abdulrahman al-Saleh told the station that Dubai World has investments and real estate abroad as well as local assets available for sale to raise funds to cover its debt, Reuters reported. But he reiterated that the government does not guarantee Dubai World's debt, the news service reported.

Saleh did say that the emirate was able to meet its sovereign-debt obligations, estimated at $20 billion.

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