DUBAI  - Emirates REIT, a Dubai-based sharia-compliant real estate investment trust, said on Monday it had appointed Houlihan Lokey to advise its board on the strategic review of the fund.

As part the review, all directors and employees of its manager Equitativa and Emirates REIT will be permitted to buy shares of the company, it said in a bourse filing.

The statement came few weeks after the company said it was considering de-listing from Nasdaq Dubai amid a downturn in the United Arab Emirates' real estate sector and weak equity market conditions.

The real estate sector in Dubai, one of the main emirates of the UAE, has been sluggish for years, due to a chronic oversupply of homes coupled with weak economic growth, a problem now exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis.

Equitativa was being investigated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority for matters connected to the management of Emirates REIT, specifically on valuation, information and interests and corporate governance.

 

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) ((Saeed.Azhar@thomsonreuters.com; +971 44536787; Reuters Messaging: saeed.azhar.reuters.com@reuters.net))