Emaar Hospitality eyes IPO 'as soon as possible'

The chairman of Dubai-based developer Emaar Properties has reiterated the company’s plans to take its hotel unit public, although details of a timeframe are yet to emerge.

Mohamed Alabbar was reported to have recently spoken at a conference about plans to launch Emaar Hospitality onto the stock market, with an announcement coming “in the next few months”.

He has followed this up by telling Reuters: "Emaar Hospitality is going to go public when the board of the company decides. The percentage, size and when - all of that I will come back to you with. But the intention is to move forward as soon as possible.

"We are in the business of enhancing shareholder value. If there is value to be created for shareholders, then that is what we will do."

The possible floatation of Emaar Hospitality would be a follow-up to the IPO of Emaar Malls Group, Emaar’s malls and retail subsidiary, last month.

That was significantly oversubscribed and raised US $1.6 million.

Emaar Hospitality has 12 hotels in its portfolio, including properties under The Address and Vida brands.

The unit recorded revenues of AED893 million (US $243 million) in the first half of 2014, up 16% on the same period last year.

Results disclosed by the company also revealed that the group’s flagship Address Hotels + Resorts reported average occupancy of 89% during H1.