Thumbs up: Aabar delisting approved

The Abu Dhabi-owned investment company sought shareholders’ consent to transform into a new corporate status at an extra-ordinary general meeting, headed by its Chairman Khadem Abdullah Al Qubaisi. The shareholders, representing 87.09 per cent of the company’s share capital, approved five resolutions in a unanimous vote.

Aabar is majority-owned another Abu Dhabi entity, oil and gas investor International Petroleum Company. Approval was also given to “the cancellation of the listing of the company and its shares from the ADX and to set-up a register with the Company’s registrar to record all dealings on the shares,” according to the minutes of the meeting posted on the ADX Website.

The name of the company will be Aabar Investments, now a private joint stock company, as shareholders approved an amendment to Article 2 of its Memorandum of Association.

It will now have a capital of Dh4.04 billion, divided into the same number of shares having a face value of Dh1.

Aabar’s shares did not trade on the ADX on Monday.

The shareholders also authorised the chairman, his deputy, the chief executive officer and any person authorised by any of them to negotiate and execute all contracts and agreement on behalf of the investment company.

In July, Aabar offered minority shareholders to buy back at Dh1.45 a share. However, a high-level committee comprising officials from the Securities and Commodities Authority, the Ministry of Economy and the Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi intervened into the matter and negotiated the firm to hike its buy-out offer to Dh1.95 a share, an increase of 34 per cent, bringing relief to investors.

Aabar Investments posted a Dh202 million profit for the first half 
of this year.

The investment firm bought a stake in luxury car maker Daimler AG in June, as well as a 4.99 per cent stake in Italy’s UniCredit SpA valued at $2.2 billion in June. It raised $2 billion from a syndicated loan last week.

· haseeb@khaleejtimes.com