A SCOTS-BORN property developer has denied that warnings over the increased threat of terrorist attacks in the Middle East will hamper business investment in the region.
The Foreign Office last week issued an advisory warning to UK citizens travelling to the area, saying there was a "high threat from terrorism" in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt.
But Peter Riddoch, chief executive of Dubai-based property
developer Damac, maintained that the Foreign Office advice would not change the way his company did business in the area.
Riddoch told The Scotsman: "I do not see that particular advisory having any impact on our business and we are not seeing anything at this moment in time."
Damac, owned by Emirati Hussain Sajwani who, is estimated to be among the top 50 of the Arab world's richest men, is currently developing £8.5 billion worth of property around the world, including troubled resort areas in the likes of Dubai, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.
Damac, which has an office in Riddoch's native Glasgow as well as across the United Kingdom, says it sells 45 per cent of its property to UK investors.
However, the company is adamant that continuing tension in the Middle East has not hit its business. While demand for property in the UK has stalled, hitting housbuilders such as Persimmon, Barrat Developments and Redrow, Riddoch claimed that the economic slowdown in the UK has stimulated demand for property abroad, despite the terrorism threat.
In an interview with The Scotsman, he said: "We found that with the UK economic downturn there is still lots of people in the UK who want to invest in bricks and mortar.
"The inquiries for our overseas developments have increased as the UK economy has slowed down."
At a recent buyers event in London, Riddoch said he sold 141 holiday homes in Egypt in one evening. He claimed that there would be a similar response to an event focused on property in Dubai.
Although he was reluctant to discuss Dubai's political situation, he likened its position in the Middle East to that of Switzerland during the Second World War .
Dubai is governed by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also second-in-command to the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
"In many respects Dubai is not unlike Switzerland in that it is seen as a safe, secure haven, regardless of what happens around it," said Riddoch, a cousin of the broadcaster and Scotsman columnist, Lesley Riddoch.
He added: "Dubai, over the years, has been protected from some of the challenges that the region has faced – ranging from the original Beirut civil war to both of the Kuwait Gulf conflicts – because a lot of the funds have been moved to Dubai and this has helped Dubai to establish itself as a regional hub."
Riddoch estimated that the value of residential property in Dubai had appreciated in value over the past five years between 28 and 56 per cent per annum.
He said that the population was growing by 30,000 to 40,000 a month, suggesting that the property development boom overseen by the Dubai royal family since 1988 was sustainable through to 2012 or 2015, "barring no world events having a catastrophic effect on it".
Damac claims that sales of overseas property in the company's Glasgow office have, "quarter by quarter, exceeded budget expectations" since it opened two-and-a-half years ago.
Riddoch said Damac was on track to open another office in London this year and has plans to open an office in Edinburgh.
The full article contains 608 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
