Total disclosure is the key to Dubai's recovery - ArabianBusiness.com

The headlines last week may not have made particularly pleasant reading for Nakheel executives, even though they must have been expecting it. In the firm’s Islamic bond prospectus, Nakheel told potential investors that it had written off a hefty $21bn due to the collapse in local property values post-Dubai World.

While the media attention has focused, perhaps unsurprisingly, on the $21bn figure, the truth is that this actually spells pretty good news for Nakheel going forward. If there’s one thing from which investors will run screaming, that’s a lack of accountability.

In March last year, I spoke to Jan Plantagie, the regional head of Standard & Poor’s. At the time, his firm was in the spotlight after Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group (DHCOG) – which oversees, amongst others, the Jumeirah Group, Dubai Properties Group and Tecom – dropped its relationship with the ratings agency after a disagreement over transparency.

* username: rupertbu