shiva

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Housi.../10244433.html

"Dubai Islamic Bank said on Thursday it has reposessed a "substantial area" of land in a $3.5-billion luxury theme park project in the latest controversy to hit Dubai's booming real estate market."

bit bigger than your average house repossesion...the cracks are beging to show, maybe Dubai wont be the only place on earth to avoid the credit crunch afterall!

IndieG

This tells you a lot more:

The cost of protecting Dubai government bonds from default doubled in the past three months on concern the emirate will be unable to maintain the borrowing that’s driven its real-estate boom.

Credit-default swaps protecting Dubai debt for five years traded at 220 basis points, CMA Datavision prices show, up from 110 at the beginning of June, according to data compiled by Merrill Lynch & Co.

Protecting Dubai’s debt against default is more expensive than for Thailand, whose prime minister was forced to step down on Tuesday after four months of anti-government protests. The emirate is also riskier than Colombia, which is rated below investment grade by Moody’s, credit-default swaps show.

Dubai got 3% of its gross domestic product from oil in 2006, the lowest of any Gulf emirate or country, according to Bloomberg data. Three of its four biggest investors, the UK, US and Japan, have economies with slowing growth.

“Major concerns include Dubai’s relatively weak macro balances and hydrocarbon assets compared to Abu Dhabi, as well as supply overhang in the real-estate market,” said Turker Hamzaoglu, a London-based economist at Merrill Lynch.

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_...yId=1093211617

Dreammaker

I think you'll find that this is part of a negotiation exercise that DIB and Plantation have been involved in for some time. From what i understand this transaction should allow the criminal allegations against the individuals involved in plantation to be cleared.