DIC offloads assets and ponders more sales - The National Newspaper

During the boom years, Dubai International Capital (DIC) was the standard bearer for the emirate’s global investment ambitions, buying billions of dollars worth of businesses and investments in a four-year burst of expansion.

As perhaps the highest profile part of Dubai Holding, it acquired interests in some of the world’s best-known brands, such as HSBC, Sony and EADS, the manufacturer of Airbus. At one stage, under its founder and chief executive Sameer al Ansari, it almost bought Liverpool FC, the famous English football club, with a suggested price tag of more than £300 million (Dh1.59 billion).

Last week, it emerged that most of its high-profile global acquisitions had been quietly sold since the boom turned bad in late 2008. How much DIC received has not been made public, but, given the fall in global asset prices, it is unlikely to have turned a profit on these deals.