Rents force rethink at DIFC as firms move

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Dubai’s financial hub is witnessing a wave of departures as companies curb expenses and seek lower rents elsewhere during the global downturn.

At least 37 companies, including the international law firm DLA Piper, have cancelled licences in the past year or are in the process of doing so, according to accountants assisting them in leaving the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). Before the beginning of last year, only 13 companies had formally dissolved its operations within the DIFC, the centre’s records show.

“It’s a clean-up of the system,” said Hisham Farouk, a partner at Grant Thornton UAE, a DIFC-licensed liquidator. “From our perspective, it’s just a cleaning-up of the market. You’re not seeing Deutsche Bank walk out.”