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Arabtec CEO Sees 40% Cash Payment From Nakheel In June

2010-05-24

(Zawya Dow Jones)--Dubai-based Arabtec Construction expects to receive the 40% cash payment from Nakheel, as outlined in an agreement with the Dubai government-owned developer, sometime in June but the firm isn"t held up on payments from Nakheel, its chief executive officer said Monday.  "They"re waiting for the 65% of debtors to sign off to issue the 40% payment," Riad Kamal told reporters on the sidelines of Meed"s Arabian World Construction Summit. "It will probably be sometime in June, they"ve indicated it will be two weeks after they receive the figure of 65%," Kamal said, adding that 50% of debtors had signed as of last week.  He declined to give a figure for the payment owed by Nakheel.  Kamal said it is "a good deal, its a fair deal, and there"s no reason for us to ask too many questions," on commitments to it.  He said the 60% bonds payment requires 95% of debtors to agree and he expects it "will only come in three to four months."  On reaching a 95% debtor agreement for the bonds, he said: "The indications are very strong that they will reach that figure eventually."  Kamal said "the door is still open" for future cooperation between Arabtec and Abu Dhabi"s Aabar Investments, after the companies scrapped a deal that would have seen Aabar take a 70% stake in Arabtec. They haven"t yet agreed on a framework for cooperation or partnership, he added. Arabtec is not short of cash and has no plans to raise cash, he said. "We"ve not really been short of cash." "We don"t need to take money from Nakheel to pay for investments elsewhere," Kamal said, adding that the company"s investments outside of the U.A.E. "don"t really require a lot of cash."  Arabtec has one project with Nakheel, Al Furjan, which it hasn"t started on yet but which Nakheel has said it intends to complete, Kamal said.  "We"ve been told it"s one of the projects they intend to complete." On Dubai Financial Market Arabtec shares are trading down 1.3% at AED2.28 in a broadly negative market.