Enshaa takes over Palazzo Versace Dubai in swap deal

UAE developer Enshaa is to take full control of the under-construction Palazzo Versace Dubai hotel in a swap deal that will see the firm relinquish its stake in a finished Australian hotel. Sunland Group, the firm’s Australian joint venture partner, will take 100 percent ownership of the Palazzo Versace Gold Coast, it said in a regulatory filing on Monday. The company will release its 51 percent stake in the Versace-branded Dubai hotel and its 50 percent share of the D1 residential Tower Dubai in exchange for full control of the Australian hotel, which opened its doors 11 years ago. No cash will be exchanged under the terms of the transfer agreement, Sunland said. Enshaa subsidiary Emirates Investment Group Australia had inked a deal with Sunland to develop up to 13 Versace-branded properties around the globe. Under the terms of the deal, Sunland will also transfer its 50 percent stake in the joint investment vehicle Emirates Sunland Group, but will retain its interest in three remaining Dubai projects.    Palazzo Versace Dubai, a AED2.3bn ($626m) hotel and residential project, is nearing completion at a site on the banks of Dubai Creek. Emirates Sunland Group said in February that 80 percent of the resort’s 169 private apartments had been sold, and that construction was more than two-thirds complete. “[The resort] has continued its construction during a very difficult economic time,” said managing director Soheil Abedian. The property is 81 percent complete, he said. Market rumours earlier this year had suggested the property had struggled to secure project finance in the wake of the global downturn, which saw house prices in Dubai fall more than 60 percent from their peak. With the onset of the global financial crisis, more than half of developments in the city were scrapped or halted as project finance dried up and developers ran out of cash. The Versace-branded resort will include 169 private apartments and 217 hotel suites, decorated with furnishings from the Italian designer’s Home range. Enshaa and Sunland Group were not immediately available to comment.