Sheik Mohammed blesses takeover of Tameel, Amlak

Bloomberg:

Amlak Finance PJSC and Tamweel PJSC, Dubai’s two-largest mortgage lenders, will be taken over by a government-owned bank as the global financial crisis squeezed their access to credit and slowed the regional property market.

Amlak and Tamweel, whose stocks have fallen more than 80 percent this year, will “merge under” Abu Dhabi’s state-owned Real Estate Bank, the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Finance said late yesterday in a statement. The transaction has the “blessing” of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. No terms were disclosed, though the deal will be based on “international best practices,” the statement said.

“It seems to be a direct federal intervention to support the struggling entities,” said Dubai-based Raj Madha, senior banking analyst at EFG-Hermes Holding SAE, the largest Arab investment bank by market value.

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