Mubadala to develop Dh4.4b city in Malaysia

Mubadala to develop Dh4.4b city in Malaysia
Gulf News Report / Published: August 29, 2007, 23:58

Dubai: Mubadala Development Company, Abu Dhabi government's investment arm, will lead a consortium of Gulf investors to develop a Dh4.4 billion ($1.2 billion integrated international city development in Malaysia's the Iskandar Development Region (IDR).

The company yesterday signed a series of Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with partners on the project, to be developed over 20 years.

"This landmark investment will represent the single largest foreign real estate development in Malaysia, one of the largest real estate developments in the region and one of the largest single foreign investments ever in Malaysia," Mubadala said.

Growth strategy

Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, CEO and managing director of Mubadala, said, "We believe strongly that sustainable development built upon a solid infrastructure attracts global brands and pays continuing dividends. This is an integral part of our growth strategy in Abu Dhabi and beyond. Node 1 fits well with our vision and investment objectives and Mubadala is pleased to be part of this endeavour."

Abu Dhabi-based developer Aldar Properties will act as its Master Development Manager for IDR, referred to as Node 1.

Aldar chairman Ahmad Al Sayegh, said, "Node 1 has the opportunity to be a showcase of new ideas and standards in development and Aldar is committed to its success."

The conditional agreements entered by South Johor Investment Corporation Berhad (SJIC), through its subsidiary Rim City Sdn Bhd (RCSB) yesterday were with three leading consortiums, led by Mubadala, Kuwait Finance House and Millennium Development International Company.

The consortiums will invest more than $1.2 billion of initial investment for land and infrastructure to develop three clusters, namely the Lifestyle and Leisure cluster, the Cultural cluster and the Financial District. These three clusters will consist of nine distinctly themed zones.

Node 1 is a development spread over approximately 9.02 million square metres, located in the area of Nusajaya.