Source of Emirati pride

EMAAR PROPERTIES, one of the biggest real estate developers in the UAE, is a source of Emirati pride, being helmed by chairman Mohamed Alabbar. Established in 1997 in Dubai, the company has evolved into a property bellwether, and has also diversified into the retail and hospitality industries to offer more value to its shareholders.

In 2000, Emaar Properties was listed on the Dubai Financial Market and became the first property company to offer shares to foreign nationals. The developer has created some of Dubai’s most pioneering and historic pieces of real estate that have catapulted the emirate on to the global stage. Its early projects such as Emirates Hills, Dubai Marina and the Arabian Ranches set benchmarks for excellence in the property sector and blazed a trail for other smaller private developers to emulate. The Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa — the world’s largest mall and the world’s tallest building respectively — are fine jewels in the crown of Emaar Properties. These projects spread the reputation of Emaar Properties far and wide. In 2014, Emaar Properties announced its plan to sell shares of its malls and retail business to the public. Emaar International was established in 2004. After establishing a firm foothold in Dubai, Emaar went about aggressively expanding its property development footprint in overseas markets such as Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan and Iraq, among others.