Al Habtoor Group shakes-up hotel division

Al Habtoor Group, the Dubai conglomerate, has announced a major reshuffle across its boards as part of plans to enhance growth.

The shakeup, across all units, includes hotels, motors, real estate, schools, car rental as well as the Group's legal and audit boards.

A statement from the group said that the changes to the hotels division, which is growing rapidly with the recent addition of the Waldorf Astoria on the Palm Jumeirah, and Al Habtoor City, "has been carefully planned with a mix of expertise to cope with the growing demands of the business".

The changes, backed by chairman Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, will take effect from January 1 2014, a statement said.

Al Habtoor said: "This reshuffle is essential to ensure we are ready to for what the future holds. We need to prepare our units for the opportunities ahead following Dubai's success to host the Expo 2020.

"I want to ensure we have renewed energy throughout the Al Habtoor Group units and make sure we have the correct strategy in place."

He added: "As our motto states, we are growing with the UAE, and the Emirates is experiencing unprecedented growth. We want to capitalise on this and make sure we have the right people in place to enable us to continue growing with the UAE."

The changes impact Habtoor Hotels, Al Habtoor Motors, Diamondlease, Emirates International Schools, Real Estate and Legal & Audit Boards, the statement said.

Al Habtoor Group said earlier this month that it is interested in projects around Expo 2020 with CEO Mohammed Al Habtoor saying it would look at development deals.