Talal Al Dhiyebi, Group of CEO of Aldar Properties
Talal Al Dhiyebi is the group chief executive officer at Aldar Properties. He has previously held prominent positions within the company, including those of chief development officer and executive director of asset management.
His board memberships include those of Miral Asset Management, Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management, Sandooq Al Watan, the Abu Dhabi Housing Authority, and the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He also serves as chairman of Aldar Investment, vice-chairman of Aldar Education, and chairman of Musanada and Aldar Estates.
Talal is a graduate of Electrical Engineering (Honors) from the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Aldar Properties
Aldar Properties PJSC is a real estate development, management, and investment company with headquarters in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The company’s shares are traded on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
Founded in 2004, Aldar Properties is one of the major players shaping the urban and residential fabric of Abu Dhabi.
The company develops and manages large-scale projects that include Al Raha Beach, Al Raha Gardens, and Yas Island, which contains the Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Hotel Abu Dhabi, and the theme parks Ferrari World and Yas Waterworld.
Aldar has also created homes for families since its inception, including villas, townhouses, high-rise, and mid-rise apartments.
“Abu Dhabi has attracted talent from across the globe to work, live and visit this great metropolitan city,” says Talal Al Dhiyebi.
“One of the unique aspects of the city’s development lies in its robust infrastructure. Typically, it takes time for infrastructure to keep pace with development, but we have invested heavily in it — be it roads, utilities, new airports, or port facilities. As a result, everything is well serviced and connected.”
Aldar’s approach focuses on creating the “urban ecosystems” which ensure liveable and vibrant communities. This attracts people to stay in the city, purchase their own homes, and settle down to further contribute to Abu Dhabi as it grows.
These residential developments are designed to be future-proof and combine high-quality, well-designed housing complemented and enhanced by retail, international-standard education, cultural, recreational, and entertainment venues, and community amenities such as parks, sports facilities, and access to nature.
For example, Saadiyat Island, one of Aldar’s largest recent projects, combines residential living with cultural attractions like the Louvre Abu Dhabi, world-class educational institutions such as Cranleigh Abu Dhabi and New York University – Abu Dhabi, and a three-kilometer beach, all within walking distance, and connected by walking and bike paths.
Aldar introduced their new project “Lea” located on the north side of Yas Island having a collection of Residential Land. Lea at Yas Island offers waterfront living alongside parks, promenades, and waterside walkways in addition to access to all of Yas Acres amenities. The property portfolio further includes the company’s headquarters, Gate and Arc Towers in Al Reem Island, Coconut Island, the Abu Dhabi Central Market (Souq), Al Jimi Shopping Centre, Noor Al Ain, Al Gurm Resort, and Al Mamoura – the Mubadala Development Company and Environment Agency Abu Dhabi Headquarters Building.
Aldar is continuing to deliver strong financial performance and shareholder returns, driven by its diversified asset base. It has entered new geographies and asset classes, as well as robust organic growth in its core market in the past months. The company recorded its highest-ever annual development sales in 2021, doubling from the previous year’s sales, and has expanded its land bank in the UAE.
Additionally, it entered the Egyptian market and enhanced its UAE diversification through its expansion to Ras Al Khaimah.
The company also made its first entry into the logistics real estate sector with regional expansion plans in place.
Moreover, Aldar is attracting investment from global leaders like Apollo, which recently invested $1.4bn of strategic growth capital through monetization of Aldar’s long-term land bank and equity investments into its flagship investment properties platform. Looking ahead, this funding as well as existing cash and facilities will be deployed to realize the company’s growth ambitions.
Talal Al Dhiyebi’s role in Aldar
Before assuming the CEO position in 2017, Al Dhiyebi held several leadership roles within the company since its merger with Sorouh in 2013. Aldar Properties is a developer of major projects in Abu Dhabi, including Yas Island and Ferrari World. The company manages government projects worth around $8.2 billion as part of an MoU signed with ADQ, making it the biggest listed developer in the U.A.E. Following the deal, the firm recorded a 30% surge in revenue at $571.7 million in Q3 2020. Al Dhiyebi also serves on the boards of several other companies, including Miral Asset Management and Sandooq Al Watan.
Under Al Dhiyebi’s leadership, Aldar Properties reported strong financial results driven by the competitive performance of the Aldar Development business as well as Aldar Investment’s recurring income portfolio.
Al Dhiyebi stated his thoughts about the company’s growth saying, “with the economic rebound gathering momentum throughout 2021, Aldar delivered an excellent set of financial results, a strengthened development pipeline, and a first international market entry”.
At the beginning of Q2 2022, Aldar announced the expansion of its land bank, acquiring 6.2 million square meters of land located on the east side of Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi. The land, valued at $1bn will be paid in kind as the proposed development on the island progresses. The construction for the island is scheduled to begin during the second half of the year over a 4-year development period.
Additionally, Aldar Properties has also seen successful residential launches in 2022 with the second phase of the Alreeman II development; the ‘Fay Alreeman’ underway. The $544.9mn master-planned community in Abu Dhabi was developed as a response to cater to Aldar Properties’ customer preferences with spacious floorplans, closed kitchens, and majlis spaces among other specific features. Fay Alreeman’s master plan has been designed in clusters, each with its parks and amenities, to build a strong sense of community.
With sustainability as an integral part of their business strategy, Al Dhiyebi’s leadership will align the company’s approach and policies, creating a business strategy that imposes a positive impact on the economy, environment, and people.
Aldar Properties Capitalisation
Aldar reported group development revenues for the same time of AED2.2 billion ($598.9m), a 27 percent rise in Q1 net profit. First-quarter group sales for the real estate developer were $598.9 million, driven by the capital’s real estate market’s ongoing strength.
The robust Q1 results of Egyptian developer SODIC, which Aldar purchased in December, and the ongoing momentum in Abu Dhabi’s real estate market were the driving forces behind this.
Talal Al Dhiyebi commented on this that during the first quarter, Aldar not only had a good financial performance but also diversified sources of funding and built-up operational capabilities in preparation for further growth prospects.
He continued, “We attracted a major investment from Apollo Global Management, which is driving the accelerated expansion and diversification of our investment property business. We also entered the high potential market of Ras Al Khaimah through two acquisitions in retail and hospitality, further increasing our geographic footprint, having entered the Egypt market at the end of last year”
The real estate developer also disclosed a healthy liquidity position, with AED4.9 billion ($1.3 billion) in committed undrawn facilities and AED5.6 billion ($1.5 billion) in free cash.
As part of Apollo Global Management’s AED5.14 billion ($1.4 billion) strategic investment into Aldar’s growth initiatives, which was announced in February, Aldar Investment Properties also issued AED1,836 million ($500 million) in subordinated perpetual notes to Apollo Global Management. This transaction marked one of the largest-ever foreign direct investments into Abu Dhabi’s private sector.
“In the coming months, Aldar will capitalize on a robust deal pipeline to further broaden our asset base. With demand for quality Abu Dhabi property remaining strong among investors and end-users, we will also ramp up development activity and new project launches, particularly on the expanded strategic land bank on Saadiyat Island,” explained Al Dhiyebi.
Aldar Investment has also ramped up its transaction activity with an AED1 billion commitment to expand Aldar Education’s portfolio and entry into the Ras Al Khaimah market through the AED 410m acquisition of Al Hamra Mall.
It has also acquired AED770 million Rixos Bab Al Bahr luxury resort in RAK and launched a logistics real estate vertical with the acquisition of Abu Dhabi Business Hub.
Aldar demonstrated its focus on ESG through a portfolio-wide energy management project to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent, an agreement to use EWEC’s certified clean energy across 100 percent of Aldar’s assets which will reduce scope-2 emissions, and the announcement of its first fully sustainable community, Sustainable City – Yas Island.
