Property/ International

Debt deal for Dubai developer Limitless closer after Silver Point sale

Reuters

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Published: 10:01am, 16 Feb, 2016

Updated: 3:28pm, 26 May, 2016

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epa04629896 (FILE) A file picture dated 06 April 2010 shows a panoramic view of luxury hotels and skyscrapers at the Dubai Marina in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. A major fire was blazing in the upper floors of a skyscraper early 21 February 2015, in Dubai, with thousands of people evacuated from the building, media said. Flaming debris could be seen falling from the upper floors of the Torch, one of the tallest residential buildings in the world at 336.1 meters. The blaze began around the 50th floor and spread above the 70th floor, reports said. The building on the Dubai Marina has 79 floors. High winds were complicating the fire, and some people fleeing the building were being treated for smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is yet unknown. No casualties have been yet reported. EPA/ALI HAIDER

A debt restructuring for Dubai-based developer Limitless moved closer after Silver Point Capital sold its share of the 4.45 billion dirham (HK$9.4 billion) debt last month, two sources involved in the process said.

US hedge fund Silver Point, one of a minority of creditors holding up a deal, sold half of its roughly
US$80 million loan to Dubai-based lender Mashreq and the other half to Massar Investments, an investment firm controlled by Mashreq’s owners.

A deal can only be agreed once all Limitless creditors have given it their assent.

The Silver Point move will increase pressure on Saudi Arabian lender Arab National Bank, another creditor that had not agreed to the plan as of late last year, to review its position, one of the sources said.

The current status of the bank’s position on Limitless was unclear and nobody was available to comment at the bank.

Limitless has been seeking to rebuild its finances after an earlier restructuring triggered by a downturn in the emirate’s property industry at the end of the last decade.

Another market slowdown has made this more pressing for the Dubai government-owned company, whose projects include a 200-hectare mixed-use development in Dubai’s Jebel Ali, as well as, according to its website, schemes in Vietnam and Russia.

In June 2015, the company said it had won the approval of almost 90 per cent of banks to a repayment plan involving 1.9 billion dirhams of bank debt. In return, Limitless is asking its 18 creditor banks to agree to extend the term of its debt by two years to December 2018.

The creditor committee is made up of Arab National Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, Mashreq and National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

Limitless said in June its total outstanding bank debt was 4.45 billion dirhams.