Dubai Festival City signs USD 130m loan for futuristic Marsa Al Khor tower

Notes and media contacts

About Dubai Festival City:

A 1,600 acre 'city-within-a-city', Dubai Festival City is an inspirational all-in-one destination taking shape on the sweeping curves of the historic Dubai Creek. As the Middle East's largest, privately-funded, mixed-use, real estate development, this all-in-one city offers infinite opportunities in retail, residential, leisure, hospitality and entertainment.

The project is skirted by a four kilometre long, privately-developed Creekside corniche. Set to become a downtown landmark, the Corniche fronts this all-encompassing city, which combines an unrivalled blend of modern office towers, superb waterfront villas, luxury and convention hotels, five-star resorts and time share villas, an 18 hole championship golf course, a unique waterfront retail destination, which boasts some of the world's leading brands, a 150 berth Mediterranean style marina, a state-of-the-art automotive retail park, a vibrant community centre, terraced hillside villas, golf course residential and Mediterranean-style apartments.

The development is reinvigorating Dubai's downtown district and will leverage its proximity to the award winning Dubai International Airport as well as its expansive waterfront to deliver a new vibrancy and sense of community to the suburban landscape.

About National Bank of Abu Dhabi
National Bank of Abu Dhabi is the number one bank in the UAE, claiming the largest asset and deposit base as well as the largest branch network. Since its establishment by the government of Abu Dhabi in 1968, NBAD has grown into an award winning one-stop bank. Currently, it aims at meeting the needs of its customers in terms of personal, corporate, international, and investment banking. For its hard work and deep concern for its customers NBAD has recently won the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award, a testament to the bank's diligent progress. The bank also caters to customers overseas, boasting 17 branches in Egypt, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait Office, Sudan, UK, France and the United States of America.

This year the bank has recorded a net profit of AED 2,580 billion, 127% higher than 2004. Earnings per share were AED 2.74, with revenues reached AED 3.4 billion, up by 97% over 2004. Investment banking earnings increased 233% over the year on the back of active and rising local equity markets. The investment bank contributed 43% of the group's operating profits in 2005.

The measure of stakeholder confidence in the Bank is manifested by Standards & Poor assigning A/A-1 rating to NBAD, the highest rating given to any bank in the Middle East region. Additionally, the Bank won the Dubai Quality Award, Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Gold Award, Banker's Best Bank in UAE Award, Euromoney Best Bank in UAE and the Best Deal in UAE Awards as well as numerous other accolades, in recognition of its world-class, customer-centric management approach.



For further information, please contact:
Bassem Terkawi
Public Relations and Events Manager
Dubai Festival City
Tel: +9714 213 6187; Fax: +9714 2851185

Sam Dulka
MCS/Action, PO Box 20970, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel: +9714 390 2960;Fax: +9714 390 8161