Dubai to invest $5 billion in Istanbul

Dubai Holding property unit Sama Dubai on Wednesday made a winning bid of $705 million in a tender for land in Istanbul's thriving business district where they plan to build a major business and leisure complex.The winning bid gave a fresh boost to Turkey's real estate market, which has been booming on the back of strong economic growth and foreign interest.Sama Dubai bought the land from the Istanbul municipality, which previously used it as a bus station, and will now turn it into the "Dubai Towers" complex. The real estate covers 46,241 square metres.

Wednesday's deal was the second major real estate tender in Istanbul this month. Two weeks ago Turkish conglomerate Zorlu made the highest bid of $800 million for 96,500 square metres of land in a nearby district of the city. "We will now focus on our Dubai Towers project, the first step in our planned real estate projects amounting to a total $5 billion," Sama Dubai Chairman Farhan Faraidooni said in a statement.Sama Dubai had announced in October 2005 it would invest in this real estate in partnership with the Istanbul municipality, but later decided to enter the tender on its own.It said the choice of Turkey for one of its largest international projects was a reflection of its confidence in the growth potential of the Turkish economy and its strategic position as a global business, trade and tourism centre.The company also has projects in Qatar, Casablanca, Dubai, Bahrain and Oman.Based on a subsequent calculation by the tender commission the local currency price of the land was 980 million Turkish lira plus 176.4 million lira in VAT. The city's mayor, Kadir Topbas, said the price would be paid in cash.Sama Dubai had also made the highest bid of 840 million lira ($602 million) in the first written round of the tender, which was shown live on Turkish television. Source