Tamweel, Amlak Merger Delay Is ‘a Concern,’ Tamweel Chief Says

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The delay in the planned merger of Tamweel PJSC and Amlak Finance PJSC, two United Arab Emirates mortgage lenders, is “becoming a concern” and hampering communication with shareholders, Tamweel’s chairman said.

“We are slightly concerned that the timeline is becoming too long,” Sheikh Khaled Bin Zayed al-Nehayan said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, late yesterday. “My hope is that it is going to happen in the first quarter, although I have been proven wrong many times.”

Tamweel and Amlak shares have been suspended since November 2008, when the country’s federal government said it planned to merge the two companies and inject new capital after the global credit crunch blocked their access to new funding. Tamweel plans to seek the market regulator’s approval next week to hold an annual meeting of shareholders to inform them of the progress on the merger, Sheikh Khaled said.