Union Properties PJSC (UPP) plans to repay 2 billion dirhams ($545 million) of debt this year to cut interest costs and convince banks to restructure other loans.
The Dubai’s second-biggest developer by assets is seeking to convince lenders such Emirates NBD PJSC to delay repayment on an additional 3.5 billion dirhams to 4 billion dirhams for five years, Chairman Khalid Bin Kalban commented to Reuters yesterday. Union Properties also repaid 2 billion dirhams in 2010, according to him.
The company is seeking to pay interest only and delay the principle repayment until 2016.
Union Properties has been in negotiations with lenders for almost three months and the response has been “positive,” Bin Kalban said. The developer is repaying debt this year with the 1.1 billion dirhams it raised from selling the Ritz Carlton Hotel and another 900 million dirhams from other property sales.
First-quarter profit rose 64 percent to 82 million dirhams from the year earlier.
