Emaar Properties PJSC said it hired banks to arrange meetings with fixed-income investors ahead of a planned bond issue.
The Dubai government-controlled company asked HSBC Holdings Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Standard Chartered Plc to arrange the meetings in Asia, the Gulf Arab countries, and Europe, it said in a statement. They will begin Jan. 21 and a note issue will follow subject to market conditions.
Emaar raised $500 million with five-year convertible bonds in September, using the money to pay contractors and convert some of its $1.4 billion of short-term loans into longer-term debt. The company is focusing on recurring income from shopping- mall leases and hotel revenue rather than new projects after property prices in Dubai fell by more than half since 2008 and transactions dried up.
Emaar is rated B1 by Moody’s Investors Service, its fourth- highest non-investment grade ranking, and two steps higher at BB by Standard & Poor’s.
Some of Dubai’s state-owned companies faced problems raising loans after the economic crisis froze credit markets. Dubai World, one of the emirate’s three main state-owned holding companies, reached an agreement with its more than 70 creditors in September to delay payments on $24.9 billion of debt.
