Dubai: DXB Entertainments, which owns Dubai Parks & Resorts, is planning to sell itself to its majority shareholder, Meraas Holding, the company said in a filing to Dubai Financial Market.
Meraas has made a cash offer to buy out the debt-hit DXB Entertainments, whose downhill ride started well before the covid pandemic wiped out the tourism and entertainment industries in the UAE.
The postponement of the much-anticipated World Expo 2020, which would have drawn some 25 million visitors to Dubai’s new theme parks, sounded the death knell for the them park operator.
With property prices far below peaks reached in 2014,
DXB Entertainments hasn’t posted a profit in since nearly 2014 when property prices crashed, and proposals for amusement parks have repeatedly been thrown in the dust bin.
The company’s statement on Sunday said Meraas will take over the company by converting $1.15 million of debt into equity. The deal will take DXB Entertainment private at $0.02 a share.
Meraas, a firm backed by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, holds a 52% controlling stake in DXB Entertainments, whose biggest foreign shareholders include Qatari and Kuwaiti sovereign wealth funds.