Reem Investments, the Abu Dhabi-based property company with net assets of 5.4 billion United Arab Emirates dirhams ($1.47 billion), has been floated on the Second Market of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange three months after it was announced that the firm's merger talks with Eshraq Properties had ended.

It has become the fifth company to list its shares on the Second Market, which was set up to allow for the trading of shares in private joint stock companies, since its formation four years ago. The most recent was Wahat Al Zaweya, a property development company which listed in June this year that is majority owned by Tabarak Investment.

Trading in Reem Investments' shares began on Sunday, opening at 16 dirhams per share but closing lower at 14 dirhams, giving it a market capitalisation of 1.088 billion dirhams.

Reem Investments was set up in 2005 and is the parent company behind Reem Developers, which is building the Najmat project on Reem Island and Rawdhat on Airport Road which, when complete, will house around 60 million square feet of buildings. This will include around 1,850 residential units, which the company is building to lease.

The shareholder information posted on the ADX website lists Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the company's biggest single shareholder, with a stake of just under 13.5 percent. Other major shareholders include National Holding and Al Nahda Investment.

In a press release announcing the listing, Rashed Al Blooshi, chief executive of ADX, said the listing "confirms our position as a preferred listing destination and reflects the high levels of international competitiveness ADX offers".

He said that by the end of August, the exchange had attracted 7,993 institutional investors, of which 5,979 were foreign institutions, and that net institutional investment in the market stood at 1.4 billion dirhams.

"In addition, the top 25 asset management companies in terms of assets under management are registered on ADX and actively investing," he added.

In August last year, Eshraq Properties announced that it was in 'advanced discussions' with Reem Investments in a deal that would have seen Reem Investment take a "strategic shareholding" in return for the transfer of its business and assets to Eshraq Properties.

However, in June this year, Eshraq Properties said in a statement to ADX that it had ended talks. In a statement to ADX, the company said that "the two parties were not able to settle their differences regarding certain commercial matters underpinning the investment".

(Writing by Michael Fahy; Editing by Shane McGinley)

(michael.fahy@thomsonreuters.com)

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