13 November 2016
Dubai's Mohamed Alabbar is partnering with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund to launch an online shopping platform in January

Dubai billionaire Mohamed Alabbar said on Sunday he would launch an e-commerce platform with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) at a total initial investment of $1 billion.

Alabbar said PIF would contribute 50 percent of the investment in the Riyadh-based shopping platform ‘Noon.com’, which he said would offer 20 million products including technology, fashion, toys and books.

“The project will launch in Saudi and UAE (United Arab Emirates) first, then will expand,” Alabbar told a news conference in Dubai, adding that the launch date was scheduled for January 2017.

The CEO of Noon.com, Fodhil Benturquia, told reporters that the platform could go public in five to seven years.

Alabbar, who is chairman of Dubai developer Emaar Properties, earlier this year led two investor groups to buy a combined 16.45 percent stake in Dubai-based logistics and transport firm Aramex and in April his company Alabbar Enterprises took a 4 percent stake in online fashion retailer Yoox Net-A-Porter

(Reporting by Yasmine Saleh)

© Zawya 2016