Dubai’s Mohamed Alabbar resigns from Aramex board

Emaar and Noon founder submitted resignation letter on April 11, DFM filing says

Mohamed Alabbar, founder of Dubai's Emaar Properties and e-commerce firm Noon, resigned from the board of Aramex on April 11.  Christopher Pike / The National

Dubai businessman Mohamed Alabbar resigned from the board of Aramex, the Middle East logistics company in which he owns a stake, according to a regulatory filing.

Mr Alabbar, who founded the UAE real estate developer Emaar Properties and e-commerce company Noon, submitted his letter of resignation to Aramex on April 11, said the filing from Aramex to the Dubai Financial Market stock exchange, where its shares are traded.

The statement said Mr Alabbar resigned “for personal reasons”.

In July 2016, Aramex founder and vice chairman Fadi Ghandour sold his entire 9.9 per cent stake – reported to be worth around $142 million (Dh521.6m) at the time – in the company to GCC investors including Mr Alabbar.

Since investing in Aramex, Mr Alabbar has sought to integrate the company’s capabilities with his retail empire, in particular through Noon, which launched at the end of 2017.

Another board member, Christine Holgate, chief executive of Australia Post Transaction Services, resigned from Aramex board on April 10, according to another regulatory filing. Australia Post said in March it sold a 10 per cent stake in the logistics company for $164m.

Remaining Aramex board members include the company's founder Mr Ghandour and Facebook's regional managing director, Ramez Shehadi.

Aramex reported a 13 per cent rise in net profit for the full-year 2018 to Dh492m. Revenue rose 8 per cent to Dh5.08bn.