Links Group records strongest year on record for business incorporation in Dubai and Abu Dhabi
UAE: Links Group, leaders in company formation in the Middle East for almost 10 years, has recorded its strongest year on record for business incorporation in the UAE. The firm says the Arab Spring movement across the Middle East has played to the UAE's advantage with regional companies choosing to relocate their core business functions or headquarters to the emirates where they have greater confidence in the economic and political future of the country.
In the first three quarters of 2011, Links Group recorded a 75 per cent increase in onshore business license issuance in Dubai and Abu Dhabi compared to the same period last year. This places demand for onshore company formation at higher levels than the firm experienced during the boom years of 2006 to 2008.
Underscoring the investment potential for the UAE, the new business incorporations by Links Group all involved large listed multinational companies, which between them enjoyed 2010 annual earnings in excess of USD 10 billion.
According to Links Group, asset protection has been the major motivation of business unit relocation to the UAE. This is particularly true for finance and HR functions where the UAE's more robust Commercial Companies Law and supporting infrastructure, such as housing, medical, education and transportation have influenced relocation decisions.
In addition to regional companies relocating their key functions to the emirates, foreign companies based in the UAE are becoming acutely aware of the importance of succession planning and business continuity. Links Group says the number of UAE-based companies requiring business licence restructuring has also increased as they realise the need to protect the foreign company's assets by way of a corporate governance model.
"Larger multinationals are favouring our unique approach to onshore company formation in which the 51 per cent local ownership requirement is fulfilled by a corporate entity as opposed to an individual. This model affords the highest levels of transparency and stakeholder protection, in accordance with the UAE Commercial Companies Law, while ensuring the foreign company retains 100 per cent operational control of their business," said John Martin St. Valery, Founder and CEO, Links Group.
As economic uncertainty grips not only Middle East countries, but Europe and the U.S. too, Links Group says foreign businesses are seeing the UAE as central to their business diversification and expansion strategies to tap opportunities in the neighbouring GCC markets.
Martin St. Valery added: "The increased interest in establishing a legal commercial presence in the UAE reaffirms the country's status as the regional trading hub and strategic gateway to the rest of the Middle East. This interest is not only coming from places like Egypt and Bahrain, but Europe and the U.S. too where economies are also in decline or remain flat. This signals to us conviction in the UAE leadership and its pro-business environment and certainly bodes well for national GDP growth."
Construction, consultancy services and petrochemicals are the sectors in which Links Group has seen strongest growth in 2011, with many of these companies positioning themselves in the UAE to respond to the anticipated release of large project tenders in Qatar.
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About Links Group
Established in 2002, Links Group is a premier company formation specialist advising corporations and individuals on how best to establish a legal commercial presence in the Middle East. It provides an unrivalled network of corporate services to assist the company formation process with a particular focus on the UAE and Qatar. This includes company formation, legal structures, licenses and visa documentation, serviced offices, resource management and marketing support. It is also the only company of its kind to be associated with the Foreign Investment Office (FDI) of the Dubai Economic Department.
The Links Group difference is that foreign companies work with a highly structured board as their local partner as opposed to an unknown individual. This unique structure provides foreign businesses with a corporate entity to act as their nominee, local partner, shareholder or sponsor, thereby minimising the risks associated with appointing an unknown individual nominee.
Links Group has an untarnished track record with over 200 clients, who represent combined annual revenues of over USD 2bn to their respective economies.
www.the-links-group.com
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© Press Release 2011
