Dubai’s leading investment company, Emaar, is for the first time considering acquiring companies in the United States, India, and China to drive intercontinental expansion after posting strong financial results last year and this year. Founder and CEO Mohamed Alabbar told the Financial Times that “it’s time for intensive, global growth.”
“Emaar is strong in the United Arab Emirates, but I think the market may be getting too small for us—or Dubai may be getting too small—for this growth story to continue,” said Alabbar, one of the country’s most influential business leaders. The global strategy, he explained, “is something the board is now discussing intensively.”
A sharp rise in real-estate prices in 2024 lifted Emaar’s pre-t
ax profit by 25 percent, while in the first half of this year net profit reached $2.8 billion, up 34 percent from the same period last year. The company, whose largest shareholder is the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), now has additional motivation to expand beyond its home market. “The goal is truly robust expansion—it’s almost growth through acquisitions,” Alabbar emphasized.
Acquisitions: an optimal opportunity for multiple gains
Alabar, whose company Eagle Hills Montenegro has recently started operating in Montenegro, stated that Emaar had previously established and managed foreign subsidiaries—including in Egypt and Saudi Arabia—but is now considering an acquisition-based strategy, partly because Emaar’s low level of debt makes it easier to borrow when financing those acquisitions.
“How do we use capital and debt wisely to really achieve something? In my view, investing in a major local player is a better approach than establishing our own companies abroad,” Alabbar said.
He stressed that Emaar’s acquisition plan still requires board approval, but said he has “strongly recommended” this option. He wants “large countries” such as the U.S., India, China, and parts of Europe to be considered and is flexible about the nature of any partnership once potential partners are identified.
“You might buy a majority stake in a development company and change the way it operates… or, if it’s already doing well, we learn from them,” the Arab investor suggested.
Emaar already has a significant overseas presence, holding about 175 million square feet of land outside the UAE (as of end-2024), not counting an “economic city” project of about 1.10 billion square feet in Saudi Arabia.
Billions of square feet reserved for partner projects
Alabbar said Emaar’s total land bank—industry shorthand for land held for future development—amounts to about 1.87 billion square feet, including UAE holdings. India, where Emaar owned about 122 million square feet of land at the end of 2024, could serve as a proving ground for the international strategy. Representatives of its subsidiary are already negotiating a possible joint venture with local investors, including the Adani Group, Alabbar noted in an interview with a British business daily.
