Dubai World Africa invests in Zimbabwe
posted on 04/05/2009

State-owned holding company Dubai World said yesterday its African unit was investing in a wildlife game reserve in Zimbabwe as part of plans to boost its investments in Africa.
Dubai World Africa, which in March said it bought three top-end South African wildlife game parks, has been pursuing investments that boost its exposure to Africa's tourism sector, including investments in hotels and beach resorts.
"(Africa) is a place where you can see growth…double-digit growth," Dubai World Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem told the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference. "It's virgin and has so much charm and we can add value to it," he said, adding Dubai World was looking at investing in game parks in Zimbabwe and S Africa. A company official confirmed that Dubai World Africa is developing the Bubye reserve in troubled African state Zimbabwe. - Reuters

quote:

"It's virgin and has so much charm and we can add value to it,"

Seloushunter

Interesting Dubai World is partnered with MGM Mirage here in Vegas in an 11 Billion Dollar project to build the gigantic City Center project which is seriously sitting oil and threatening to bankrupt MGM Mirage. Last week MGM had to give Dubai World a bunch of assurances and concessions just to keep them in the project. I got the impression that Dubai World was not overly flush with cash either.

Jeez, from Vegas to Bubye !!!! Definitely opposite ends of the spectrum!!

quote:

I got the impression that Dubai World was not overly flush with cash either.

I guess Einsteins theory applies, everything is relative to something.

I would hazard a guess that DubaiWorld was in better shape financially than a number of other property investors as they have a very broad investment portfolio and will no doubt ride out the worldwide crises better than some countries will !!

To be positive is much better than to throw in the towel.

Information request/assistance please:

Does anyone in the (higher echelons of property knowledge) or possibly Saeed will know the company well !!! ... whom is the main investment property honcho (name/email) in their AFRICA DIVISION to contact for business matters

Thanks in anticipation ...

Cheers, Peter

This could be am interesting development. Is this the path for Zim to recover; or is this exploitation?

JEff

Media reports untrue, says Parks authority

Herald Reporter
May 9, 2009

THE National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has refuted media reports that a UAE firm, Dubai World, is investing in a game park in Zimbabwe as part of its expansion plans into Africa.

National Parks public relations manager Caroline Washaya-Moyo yesterday denied the media reports circulating on the Internet saying the article "lacked substance"

"Those media reports are not true, I have talked to the director-general, Dr Morris Mtsambiwa, and he said he knew nothing about it. However, the story itself lacks substance because it does not specify which game park the firm intends to invest in," said Washaya-Moyo.

"Africa is a very interesting place. It is a place where you can see growth. In Africa, you will see double-digit growth. Africa is virgin, Africa has so much charm, nature. This is something that we know we can add value to.

"The game parks are basically nature reserves. Part of it is the social responsibility that we feel towards being in a country, but also part of it is investment," Dubai World chairman Sultan bin Sulayem was quoted as saying at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference in Dubai on Sunday.

Zimbabwe has become an attractive destination for international investors since the formation of the inclusive Government in February.

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
Media reports untrue, says Parks authority

Herald Reporter
May 9, 2009

Zimbabwe has become an attractive destination for international investors since the formation of the inclusive Government in February.

This is my personal opinion on the specific excerpt statement above.

What essentially has occured is that the deck chairs have sort of been arranged on the Titanic and the so called UNITY GOV is sending out it's newly employed salesmen to seek money money money from the gullible of this world to prop up the country.

The unity gov is the first step on the ladder but it is basically still a fraud type situation untill BOB is removed from the power structure.

I would be surprised if DubaiWorld made any substancial investment, unless there were some very tight strings attached !!

I do wish and hope that things would work BUT as I say first remove BOB and his cronies from the power machine, or marginalise them and the armed forces then we will get progress

Enough said

Cheers, Peter

Chelsy Davy's father receives major Dubai investment in Zimbabwe game reserve stake

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

A game reserve in Zimbabwe part-owned by the father of Chelsy Davy, Prince Harry's former girlfriend, has a new majority investor, in a deal that demonstrates his closeness to Robert Mugabe's regime.

By Peta Thornycroft in Harare and Richard Spencer in Dubai
Last Updated: 12:28AM BST 09 May 2009


Charles Davy, along with the other owners of the Bubye Conservancy in Matabeleland South province, has accepted an investment in the 720,000-acre property by a consortium led by Dubai World, the sovereign investment company of the Arab emirate.

No other white landowner in Zimbabwe is known to have managed to raise such investment for years.

Among locals in the area, about 40 miles north of the South African border, it is said that around £10 million was paid for the stake in Bubye, which teems with game and luxury lodges and remains a favourite haunt of American big game hunters, who can shoot buffalo, leopard, lion, elephant, giraffe and rhino.

Mr Davy, who is in his sixties, has remained on the conservancy to manage its camps. He is listed as a director of at least one safari firm operating there, Mazunga Safaris, which bills the land as "a hunter's paradise".

He is one of only a few hundred white landowners who remain in Zimbabwe. Despite the Movement for Democratic Change's entry into government most are still fighting land invasions and fast-track prosecutions for trespass.

Virtually all white-owned commercial land has been listed in the state press since 2000 as to be acquired by the government and in 2006 a constitutional amendment nationalised land designated for acquisition, depriving the farmers of legal title to their properties.

In the meantime thousands had already been dispossessed, usually violently, in a campaign that began the downward spiral of the economy under Mr Mugabe.

Mr Davy, though, has a long-standing business relationship and friendship with one of Mr Mugabe's cabinet ministers, Webster Shamu, who is now information minister in the inclusive government.

The Bubye deal, agreed last year when Mr Mugabe's party was in sole charge but only publicly confirmed this week, could not have gone ahead without at least tacit approval from the authorities.

Trevor Gifford, president of the Commercial Farmers' Union, sought to contrast Mr Davy's position with that of ordinary white farmers.

"It is extraordinary that white farmers, even those on land covered by bilateral trade protection agreements are not safe from seizure, let alone white Zimbabwean farmers," he said. "Many farmers have operated as companies; none of their companies have been safe, they couldn't sell shares because they were targeted and have been evicted and chased.

"And yet here we see foreigners walk in and buy land and shares. But some whites are protected by Zanu-PF."

Mr Davy, who is not on either the European Union or American lists of Mugabe cronies subject to sanctions, did not respond to questions about how the sale was able to go through. The Daily Telegraph put questions to Mr Davy in January this year and again this week, after it was announced by Dubai World.

Last November he confirmed that he was one of "many shareholders" in the property. "The Bubye Conservancy was never owned by me, I am one of many shareholders. I have not sold and remain a shareholder," he said.

It was not clear whether Dubai World had bought its stake from existing shareholders, or new shares had been issued. The sale was brokered by a Russian financial firm, Renaissance Capital, which also took a stake in Bubye.

A Dubai World company official confirmed that it had bought into Bubye, and its chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said: "Africa is a very interesting place.

"It is a place where you can see growth. In Africa, you will see double-digit growth.

"Africa is virgin, Africa has so much charm, nature."

Dubai World is one of the world's most active sovereign investment companies, running businesses from finance to real estate, and even the P&O shipping company.

Its principal shareholder is the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is best known in the West as one of the world's leading racehorse owners.

Dubai's big property investment in Zimbabwe

http://www.realestateweb.co.za
Realestateweb reporter
12 May 2009


Confirms stake in piece of Zimbabwe bigger than 53 countries, but dodges on Mugabe links, land grab fears, wildlife "trophy" hunting


Dubai has confirmed making a sizeable investment in Zimbabwean land - but is dodging questions on the acquisition that comes at a time when many companies are toying with the idea of re-entering the country.

Zimbabwe has been hammered by hyperinflation in recent years, with its economic problems set in motion by wide-scale appropriation of commercially productive farms.

Although it has entered a new era of political rule, with both Robert Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai at the helm, many business players are still watching and waiting on the sidelines.

This is not least of all because land expropriation - from white people - continues.

The Dubai property acquisition was also greeted with controversy last week when the British media reported on the purchase and pointed to speculation around the close ties white farmer Charles Davy, involved in the deal, has with Mugabe's inner circle.

Davy's daughter Chelsy is the ex-girlfriend of Prince Harry, Britain's charming, party-loving, red-headed royal.

Add to that combination of ingredients the fact that trophy hunting - the killing of wild animals, including lions, leopards and elephants - is a major revenue line coming from this latest acquisition and it is little wonder the deal is attracting attention.

The photographs of clients, including youngsters, next to rare animals they have shot for fun and for big fees on the property, would appear at first glance to be in contradiction of Dubai World's corporate commitment.

On its website the Dubai investment organisation boasts that it "embodies a commitment to work practices that are in harmony with corporate goals and environmental conservation and social responsibility".

It says nothing about the main attraction on Bubye on its own corporate site. Elsewhere on the web, however, the main activities at Bubye are marketed to well-heeled tourists.

Why not ask Saeed? He would probably know something about this, Dubai isn't that big a place.

Just out of interest, the brief information that Bubye is one of their projects is on their website

FYI ... the deal to acquire the shareholding was finalised September 2008.

DWorld are a very progressive company and I give them credit for the venture, remember the old saying ... it's not what you know that matters, its WHO you Know

Cheers, Peter

quote:

Originally posted by mboga biga bwana:

quote:

"It's virgin and has so much charm and we can add value to it,"

Seloushunter

He's obviously never visited Somalia...

I thought that except for urban property that property titles were not being transferred in zim, in other words, you could buy it, just not own it