Habtoor hunts Euro hotels

The UAE’s Habtoor Group has hired Rothschild to identify five-star hotel targets in Europe, its chairman said on Monday.

The conglomerate, one of the United Arab Emirates' largest family businesses, is also aiming to win up to US $8.2 billion worth of building contracts in 2010 with Australia's Leighton Holdings.

Habtoor was one of several Middle East investors that bought into Barclays in 2008 as the lender looked to boost its capital to weather the financial crisis.

"We talked with Rothschild bank ... about investment in Europe and especially in London and Paris for hotels if there is anything they can find so they are looking for us," Khalaf al-Habtoor told Reuters in an interview.

Habtoor added the group was also looking at companies who want to sell their assets due to a lack of financial liquidity.

He added that in August the group had about $1.3 billion to invest in Europe.

The group has a JV with Leighton and told Reuters it may float its engineering unit or the entire group in the third quarter of 2010 with possible listings in Dubai and London.

Habtoor declined to comment on the potential IPO on Monday.

The construction firm is working on about $7.35 billion of projects in the UAE and expects to bid on about AED 40 billion worth of projects in Abu Dhabi alone this year, Habtoor said.

The company also expects to boost its presence in Qatar as it looks to diversify revenues away from its home market.