Emaar Properties has called for an Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) for its Board and shareholders on Monday, November 24, 2014, 5pm at The Address Dubai Mall in Downtown Dubai, Emaar announced in a statement, adding that the OGM will approve the Board’s proposal to distribute a special cash dividend of AED 9 billion ($2.45 billion) to the company’s shareholders.

Should the meeting see an incomplete quorum, the next OGM will be held at 5pm on Monday, December 1, 2014 at the same venue.

The special cash dividend follows the successful initial public offering (IPO) and listing of the Emaar Malls Group, Emaar Properties’ shopping malls and retail business. The IPO saw overwhelming investor response, recording total orders of over AED 172 billion ($46.8 billion).

With the approval of the special cash dividend, the total value of dividends to be distributed to Emaar’s shareholders this year will exceed AED 17.12 billion ($4.66 billion), making it one of the largest announced by any listed company in the UAE.

This amounts to about 250% of the par value of Emaar’s shares, highlighting the strong value creation by Emaar, the statement added.

Commenting on the dividend distribution, Emaar Properties Chairman Mohamed Alabbar stated “The additional cash dividend is a strong demonstration of our commitment to create long-term value for our shareholders. Their confidence in our growth strategy has been our inspiration in undertaking the IPO for Emaar Malls Group, which is now listed on Dubai Financial Market. This year has been exceptional for Emaar in our concerted attempts at value creation for our stakeholders with all our core businesses – property, malls and hospitality & leisure – recording robust growth. Our international operations are also robust and we will continue to draw on our proven competencies to further establish Emaar as one of the most valuable and admired companies”.

It is worth mentioning that Emaar declared, in April, a dividend of AED 8 billion ($2.18 billion), including 15% cash dividend, equivalent to about AED 975 million ($265.5 million), and 10% bonus shares, or 650 million shares, valued at about AED 7.12 billion ($1.94 billion) at AED 10.95 per share, as of April 23, 2014.

Also, worth noting is that Emaar Properties recorded a net operating profit of AED 2.489 billion ($678 million) and revenue of AED 7.039 billion ($1.916 billion) during the first nine months of 2014. Meanwhile, Emaar Malls recorded a total revenue of AED 1.898 billion ($517 million) during the same period, recording 27% of Emaar’s total revenue. Moreover, the company’s flagship asset, The Dubai Mall welcomed over 58 million visitors during the first nine months of 2014.

With assets of AED 64.93 billion ($17.68 billion) as at the end of 2013 and an impressive land bank of over 226 million square metres in high-growth international markets, Emaar launched several new major projects this year, which received strong investor response.