DUBAI: Dubai district cooling firm Empower bought Palm Utilities from a unit of Dubai World for $500m yesterday, part of a shuffle of assets between companies ultimately owned by Dubai’s government or the emirate’s ruler.
Acquiring Palm Utilities, which includes Palm District Cooling, will give Empower about 70 percent of the United Arab Emirates’ district cooling market, a company statement said.
Empower will immediately take over all operations, assets and liabilities of Palm Utilities, which was previously owned and operated by Istithmar World.
A joint venture between Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone (Tecom) Investments, Empower will fund the purchase through internal cash, debt and equity financing, the statement added.
Empower signed a $600m, six-year loan facility with four banks — Citigroup, Emirates NBD, Mashreq and Standard Chartered — to fund its acquisition at the end of last year, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Istithmar World is part of government-owned Dubai World, while TECOM is part of Dubai Holding, the investment vehicle of Dubai’s ruler. The sale adds to a series of disposals by Dubai World, which had promised to sell non-core assets under a $25bn debt restructuring plan drawn up after 2009, when the group fell victim to a property market crash and the after-effects of the global financial crisis.
Reuters
