After a year-long international search, Aldar Properties has promoted deputy chief executive Mohammed Khalifa Al Mubarak to be its new chief executive.
Mr Al Mubarak, a Northeastern University graduate, impressed the Aldar board with his work on launching three real estate schemes in the capital the company said yesterday.
Abu Dhabi’s largest developer said that the appointment brought to a close an “exhaustive and far-reaching” search process that had looked at “leading local and international candidates” from the GCC, Europe and Asia.
"We are proud that our top internal candidate has proven to be the best person for the role," said the Aldar chairman Abubaker Seddiq Al Khoori.
“Having transformed Aldar into an exciting platform for growth there is no better person to lead Aldar through the next phase of development.”
Mr Mubarak will take on the position vacated by Sami Asad, who had been Aldar’s chief executive before its merger with rival Sorouh, and who left the firm last August, later joining Arabtec’s newly created Egyptian subsidiary.
Mr Al Mubarak, who joined the company in 2006, played a key role in the company’s decision to return to the sales market earlier this year with the launch of three property schemes and led much of the work in integrating Aldar with Sorouh after the two firms merged last July, Aldar said.
Aldar’s shares closed at Dh3.64 on Thursday on the ADX, having gained more than 30 per cent since the start of the year.
Mr Al Mubarak is also the chairman of Aldar’s schools subsidiary Aldar Academies, a board member of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority and chairman of Farah Leisure, the Abu Dhabi government-owned company which operates the Ferrari World theme park on Yas Island and the nearby Yas Waterworld waterpark.
Mr Al Mubarak’s father, Khalifa Al Mubarak, the UAE’s ambassador to France, was assassinated in February 1984, reportedly by Arab revolutionaries, outside his Paris apartment, just metres away from the Eiffel Tower.
Earlier this year an Abu Dhabi street behind the Crown Prince’s Court in Al Bateen was named after him.
Mr Al Mubarak’s brother Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak is the group chief executive and managing director of Mubadala Group.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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