UAE’s Marka to buy retail outfit from Dubai World for $60 mln

Marka, a retailing and restaurants start-up, has agreed to buy a sporting goods retail firm from state-owned conglomerate Dubai World for 220 million dirhams ($60 million), in a move that will make Marka operationally profitable in 2015, it said on Sunday.

The acquisition of Retailcorp, a subsidiary of Dubai World’s investment unit Istithmar World, will be funded by the Marka’s own funds and bank facilities, said the United Arab Emirates-based company, which listed in Dubai earlier this year.

The deal will give Marka a network of 15 sporting goods outlets across the UAE, and Marka aims to expand the chain across the country and the region, it added.

Dubai World, which signed a $25 billion debt restructuring agreement in 2011 after it was hit hard by the global financial crisis, has gradually been selling off assets to help it meet the terms of the restructuring.