By: Amr Adel

Dubai – Mubasher: Shareholders at Arabtec Holding’s ordinary general meeting (OGM) on Tuesday approved the decision to continue with the company’s operations as well as the developments to the firm’s capital restructure programme.

Arabtec’s shareholders approved an AED 1.5 billion ($408.3 million) rights issue, after the company’s accumulated losses hit AED 4.6 billion ($1.27 billion), representing 101% of capital.

The Dubai-listed construction company’s total liabilities surpassed total assets by AED 250.7 million, the company had said in a previous statement.

The OGM nodded to the capital restructure, which involves raising capital to AED 6.115 billion from its current AED 4.615 billion.

This will be the first step in the restructure process and will entail issuing 1.5 billion shares at a par value of AED 1 per share, Arabtec said.

The second step involves cancelling up to 4.615 billion shares on a pro rata basis to reduce accumulated losses, bringing the capital to AED 1.5 billion, according to a statement released last week.

Last month, Arabtec set out a three-year scheme to improve its financial position that involves selling some non-core assets owned by the company in 2017.

In February, the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) gave a preliminary approval for Arabtec’s capital restructure.

The capital reduction will not have a material impact on Arabtec’s market value, the construction firm had said in a previous statement, noting that the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) will amend the share’s price after the cut.

Translated by: Nada Adel Sobhi