Dubai billionaire Sajwani acquires 95.5 percent of Damac shares – ArabianBusiness.com

Dubai billionaire Sajwani acquires 95.5 percent of Damac shares – ArabianBusiness.com

Dubai-based billionaire Hussain Sajwani’s Maple Invest Co Limited has initially acquired 15.6 percent of the issues and paid up share capital of Damac Properties PJSC worth AED1.32 billion ($359 million), according to a statement posted on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) on Sunday.

Maple Invest’s total ownership will rise to 21.6 percent of Damac’s share capital as of November 25, DFM reported.

Sajwani and his family now hold 95.5 percent of Damac’s shares. In June, Sajwani, who founded Damac, announced his intention to take the company private, resigned as the property giant’s chairman, and made a conditional offer to buy the company’s remaining shares. At the time, Bloomberg reported Sajwani owned 72 percent stake in the developer.

Shares sold for AED1.40 ($0.38) per Damac share; the offer was upped from AED1.30 in October, valuing the developer at AED8.47bn. Maple’s initial offer in June was at a discount of nearly 45 percent to Damac’s local listing in 2015 before he raised the bid by around 8 percent.

In November, Maple Invest acquired 943,944,389 shares in Damac and also received acceptance and transfer forms from Damac shareholders with respect to