Emaar Properties is one of Dubai’s two leading real estate companies. Founded in 1997, it develops many projects, including the Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world, as well as the Dubai Mall, the largest shopping mall in the world.
In 2005, Emaar Properties entered the Indian market through a joint venture with the MGF real estate group Development 9. In October of the same year, Emaar Properties signed a $4 billion contract for the construction of Damascus Hills, a project of residential, commercial and technological park covering 460 hectares in Syria. May 9, 2006, Emaar Properties announced the creation a joint venture with AlOula Development in Saudi Arabia. These are: the construction of the Jeddah Hills project, a luxury residential development of 2,286 hectares and 20,000 units, with an investment value of $11.2 trillion . Emaar Properties has already partnered with bin Laden’s construction in the country to build Jeddah’s new port city, King Abdullah Economic City, with an investment of $26 billion.12 In June of the same year, the real estate group announced that it would invest a total of $18 billion in the construction of Karachi’s housing estates, shopping and leisure centers, luxury hotels and golf courses.13 Also in June 2006, Emaar Properties announced the acquisition of U.S. housing construction company John Laing Homes for $1.05 billion.14 In July 2006, the group announced the opening of offices in Shanghai, China for real estate construction projects in the country’s major cities15.
