Mubadala buys out Istithmar's SR Technics stake

Mubadala has bought Dubai government-owned Istithmar's stake in Swiss MRO provider SR Technics Group.

Mubadala bought the 30% stake for an undisclosed sum, raising its stake to 70%, an official for the company said in a report by Bloomberg. Dubai Aerospace Enterprises continues to hold the remaining 30%, Mubadala said.

Dubai Aerospace, along with Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala and Istithmar, bought 90% of the Swiss company for $1.3 billion in 2006, as part of a United Arab Emirates plan to build a domestic aerospace industry.

Dubai World, which owns Istithmar, is struggling to raise funds to meet debt obligations of its entities, Milena Ianeva, a London-based research analyst at Barclays Capital wrote last month.

Dubai and its state-owned companies borrowed from overseas to finance its transformation into a regional financial and tourist hub. The global credit crisis has left companies struggling to attract investors to refinance the $10 billion of bonds and syndicated loans that Standard & Poor’s said in March were due in the remainder of the year.

Dubai World has $27 billion of external debt and is “prepared to sell some of its top assets to address its debt issues,” Ianeva said.