Sorouh Real Estate plans to raise foreign ownership cap to 40%

Sorouh Real Estate, the third-largest real estate developer in the UAE, is going to increase the cap on foreign ownership of its stock to 40 per cent from 20 per cent, a company executive voiced yesterday.

Firoze Kapadia, executive director of treasury and investments, said the company's board would likely make the decision at a meeting at the end of this month, with the goal of attracting more foreign institutional investors.

"We want to make an effort towards insuring that the generality of the shareholding rests with institutions, pension funds and fund managers," Kapadia said on the sidelines of a road show for Abu Dhabi firms in Tokyo organised by HSBC Holdings Plc.

"We want to diminish the volatility in our share dealing," he said.