UAE’s Arada buys Australian builder Roberts in $20M deal
Arada, a Sharjah-based firm co-founded by the son of Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has been growing at lightning speed
Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images
The Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
UAE developer Arada has acquired the New South Wales state arm of Australian construction firm Roberts Co, investing $20 million to support its expansion in Australia and securing 700 jobs across its supply chain.
The Sydney-based builder will become the “main delivery pipeline” for 5,000 homes Arada plans to build in the next 24 months, chief executive Ahmed Alkhoshaibi told The Australian Financial Review.
The Gulf cash injection comes at a critical time for Roberts Co, which was forced to put its Victorian state arm into administration in March, leaving projects worth billions in limbo.
Arada, a Sharjah-based firm founded by the son of Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Sharjah’s Deputy Ruler Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, has been growing at lightning speed.
It first announced it would make its international debut in Australia last August. Alkhoshaibi told The National in February that the company was open to the possibility of an IPO after it sold out a $1.5 billion Sharjah project in three hours.