Dubai's Emaar may seek near-term debt refinancing

DUBAI: Dubai's Emaar Properties may refinance some of its debt in the near term, with repayments worth 6.7 billion dirhams ($1.8 billion)coming up between the second half of 2011 and next year, investment bank Rasmala said on Wednesday.

The builder of the tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa, is expected to incur a capital expenditure of 2.6 billion dirhams on its projects and operating expenses of 2.9 billion dirhams for the same period, the Dubai-based investment bank said.

Emaar will generate 7.7 billion dirhams cash from its operations during the period but will have a cash requirement of about 12.2 billion dirhams, the bank said.

The report said the developer's refinancing requirement will be around 1 billion dirhams.

Rasmala also cut the target price for Emaar to 3 dirhams a share from 3.5 dirhams as it expected international handover of projects to be slow due to uncertain global macroeconomic environment.

The developer is using four of its shopping malls including the Dubai Mall as collateral for an $800 million two-tranche loan, banking sources told Reuters last week.

Emaar saw an 85 percent fall in its income from apartment sales in the second quarter, as demand for real estate continues its slump in the emirate.

Copyright Reuters, 2011