Dubai Holding‘s main unit, Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group (DHCOG) may sell its entire telecom portfolio by 2015 in order to pay back contractor liabilities, J.P. Morgan indicated in a written note.
DHCOG’s telecom portfolio includes 35 percent stake in Tunisie Telecom and a 19.5 percent stake UAE operator du. The value of the telecom holdings is worth an estimated $2 billion, J.P. Morgan analyst estimates.
The sales are expected to go toward repaying nearly $2.3 billion of DHCOG’s estimated over $3 billion in contractor liabilities. Presently, total debt has declined to about $3.6 billion from its peak of $4.45 billion in 2008, according to J.P. Morgan.
DHCOG and parent Dubai Holding are part of a matrix of firms known informally as Dubai Inc. that includes indebted conglomerate Dubai World. Dubai Inc. firms were badly battered by the financial crisis and a subsequent property collapse that plunged Dubai into a debt crisis in 2009.
