Dubai World holds debt talks
State-owned conglomerate meets with creditors over request to restructure £22bn debt.
The committee is likely to include four British banks: HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered, which are believed to have a Dubai World debt exposure exceeding $5bn, the paper added.
Negotiations
The meeting is believed to be just the beginning of long negotiations to sort the obligations of a number of Dubai World subsidiaries which are up for restructuring.
Topping the list is the group’s giant property developer Nakheel, which has approximately $9bn in liabilities.
The emirate rocked global markets last month when it requested a six-month freeze on debt payments by Dubai World in order to restructure it.
Top Dubai financial officials reportedly told banking leaders in London last week that Dubai World could still pay the bank loans of its troubled subsidiaries in full over the medium term.
The total debt of Dubai is estimated between $80bn and $100bn.
Dubai’s economy grew at a rapid rate in recent years on the back of a real estate boom, but it was hard hit by the global economic crisis which caused a shortage in available finance for the emirate’s ambitious projects.