Emaar Plans To Sell Namshi To Noon For $335.2m!

This is ginormous news as Dubai’s biggest listed developer Emaar, known for building the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa, is selling its online fashion platform Namshi to e-commerce company Noon for $335.2 million!

Emaar had bought a majority stake in Namshi in 2017, making it one of the key platforms for its online strategies.

On Saturday evening, the real estate developer issued a statement signed by Ahmad Thani Rashed Al Matrooshi, board member at Emaar, stating, “The company would like to announce that its board of directors will convene by circulation on August 22 to take a resolution in respect of the General Assembly’s date. The invitation and agenda of the assembly will be disclosed and published within the regulatory timelines, which is 21 days before the General Assembly”.

Online Shopping

The UAE has witnessed a significant surge in online shopping, accelerated further by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry reported that the country’s e-commerce retail market hit a record $3.9 billion in 2020, growing 53 per cent annually, with the sector accounting for 8 per cent of the overall retail market.

Amazon is the largest e-commerce player in the UAE, with net sales of about $500m in 2021, data from ecommerce DB shows. Namshi was second with $249m, while Noon, the portal backed by Emaar founder Mohamed Alabbar and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, was next with $169m.

“The price shall be a cash consideration of $335.2m,” Emaar’s statement to the DFM said.

“The above cash consideration is the equity value of Namshi, which is equivalent to $350m of the company’s enterprise value. This is adjusted for debt at the company level and normalized working capital required.”

There’s A Lot More Going On

Last week, Emaar confirmed the buyout of the stake held by Dubai Holding in the operating company overseeing the Dubai Creek Harbour development. The size of that deal is Dh7.5 billion.

Incidentally, Emaar Malls was merged back into Emaar Properties late last year and its stock delisted from DFM.