By: Bedour Al Raee

Dubai – Mubasher: Air Arabia’s stock tumbled on Thursday following a statement in which the Dubai-listed company revealed that it has an overall exposure of $336 million to the UAE-based private equity firm Abraaj.

By 11:20 am, the UAE time, the stock dropped 5.77% to AED 0.98, its lowest level since May 2017, after 49.27 million shares were traded, with a turnover of AED 48.34 million.

The Emirati carrier stated that the impact of its investments in Abraaj’s funds is confined to its investment portfolio, not the company’s daily operations or its liquidity.

The main impact will be limited to Air Arabia’s book value, market value, and excess liquidity, not operating liquidity, Wadah Al-Taha, member of the National Advisory Board of Chartered Institute for Securities &Investments (CISI) commented.

The Dubai Financial Market’s (DFM) general index lost 39.46 points, or 1.34%, to 2,883.37 points, with a turnover of AED 143.36 million.

Abraaj has been facing a group of problems due to money misusage allegations.

Earlier in June, the group was accused of mishandling a $1 billion healthcare fund and audits discovered that the company commingled investor funds with its own money in the healthcare fund.

Translated by: Muhammad Khalid