Arabtec Holding to file for liquidation following general assembly meeting

Shareholders of Arabtec are seeking continuity and restructuring instead of filing for bankruptcy and liquidation. Silvia Razgova / The National

Arabtec Holding said on Monday it will file for liquidation following a general assembly meeting.

The resolution comes after a group of shareholders sought continuity of operations and requested the company consider restructuring instead of liquidation.

But the contractor said its board “concluded that it is no longer tenable to continue operating outside a formal insolvency process and that it is in the best interests of the company’s stakeholders that the company be placed into an insolvent liquidation [subject to court approval] at the earliest opportunity.

“Owing to inter-dependencies of certain of the company’s subsidiaries, the application to the competent courts will also request that Arabtec Construction, Arabtec Constructions, Austrian Arabian Readymix Concrete and Arabtec Precast [collectively the impacted companies] will also be placed into insolvent liquidation simultaneously”.

On September 30, Arabtec’s shareholders had voted to dissolve the company through a special resolution, citing an “untenable financial situation”. However, a request for the continuity was made by the “shareholders representing more than 5 per cent of the capital of Arabtec Holding”, which prompted a reassessment of the decision at its latest meeting.

Arabtec, which has built projects such as Louvre Abu Dhabi and the world’s tallest tower, Burj Khalifa, reported a net loss of Dh788 million ($214.5m) in the first half of this year as revenue for the period fell 28 per cent to Dh3.02 billion.

As of June 30, the company owed about Dh1.8bn to banks and more than Dh5.3bn to trade creditors. It had total liabilities of Dh10.14bn and assets of Dh9.79bn, according to its half-year financial statement.