Dubai’s business landscape is evolving at a significant pace. Institutional money is flooding into the region and that’s starting to change the look of an investment market still largely dominated by regionally based individuals and fund managers.
‘The Dubai fund management industry is quite active at the moment,’ points out Arif Amiri, director of investor relations at Dubai-listed Emaar Properties. ‘There are quite a few fund managers here and there’s also a growing interest from western institutional investors.’
The exchange in Dubai is still quite young. ‘It’s only about seven years old and investor relations is still in its infancy,’ says Amiri. But things are changing rapidly. ‘We’ve just incorporated the investor relations position into our organization and we are one of the first companies to do that here,’ he adds.
Amiri anticipates a quickening of this trend. ‘I predict the market will change drastically in the next two to three years,’ he says. ‘We’re seeing much more interest from international markets and investors, and I think we will witness a lot more money coming in.’ Despite all the changes in the region, Amiri’s company enjoys a relatively stable local shareholder base that includes local individuals and institutions, international investors and even the government of Dubai.
Attracting foreign investors is getting easier for Dubai-based companies like Emaar Properties. More and more investors are making the journey to the region to seek out future growth areas. ‘We take a proactive stance by attending investor conferences in the region that are held at least every quarter; they are good opportunities to meet international fund managers,’ Amiri concludes.
