The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), Siraj Capital Ltd. and DTZ of the UK, announced the launch of ‘Siraj Hospitality Investment Company’ (SHIC), with a paid up capital of $500 million. SHIC will invest in a number of hotels in the King Abdullah Economic City.

Emaar Properties, the world’s largest real estate company, was the first to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SHIC, expressing its intention to invest $75 million in the company.

In addition to investing in resorts, hotels, motels, recreational and entertainment facilities, SHIC will focus on developing conference and exhibition centers.

The MOU to form SHIC was signed at a special ceremony in Riyadh by His Excellency Governor of SAGIA Amr Al-Dabbagh, Chairman of Siraj Capital Dr. Ghassan Al-Sulaiman, and CEO of DTZ Corporate Finance Simon Berrill.

“SAGIA will play a key role in facilitating the establishment of SHIC and will provide ongoing assistance. This company will herald a new era for hospitality investments and development. The region’s hospitality industry is expected to witness tremendous growth in the coming years and SHIC will be ideally placed to contribute to this growth,” commented Governor Amr Al-Dabbagh.

Emaar Properties’ commitment includes the investment of no less than $75 million in SHIC. Mr. Mohamed Ali Alabbar, Chairman, Emaar Properties, said: “We share HE Governor Amr Al-Dabbagh’s vision and Emaar looks forward to playing a key role in the development of the hospitality sector through the unique investment opportunity provided by SHIC.”

Dr. Ghassan Al-Sulaiman, Chairman of Siraj Capital, said: “We are proud to work with SAGIA and DTZ to launch such an attractive initiative and we welcome the involvement of Emaar Properties. We look forward to the long-term economic benefits that the operations of SHIC will result in, through the development of the hospitality industry within the Kingdom and across the region.”

Mr. Simon Berrill, CEO, DTZ Corporate Finance said: “The launch of the fund augurs well for the hospitality industry in the region, which is currently in a high growth phase. The fund will play the role of a catalyst to spur further investments into this sector to meet the ever growing demand of both internal and external tourism.”

The launch of Siraj Hospitality Investment Company and the signing of the Siraj Capital-Emaar MOU comes at a time when Saudi Arabia is on the verge of a major hospitality growth phase, driven by a fast growing and young population and the Government’s drive to attract more visitors.

SAGIA

The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) is a service entity aiming to provide services and facilities to promote investment and economic development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. SAGIA was established in April 2000 under the directives of the Supreme Economic Council (SEC) as a catalyst to promote inward investments, facilitate exchange of best practice between the public and private sectors, as well as act as an intermediary between the global business community and the Saudi Government and its ministries and agencies. It also aims to contribute to economic policy-making substantiated by research and strategic criteria.

SAGIA’s role is complementary and supportive to the bodies directly concerned with the various investment sectors and working to finalize the investors’ procedures. The mission of SAGIA is to create a pro-business environment while providing comprehensive services to investors, and fostering investment opportunities in energy, transportation and knowledge-based industries. For more information on SAGIA please visit

Siraj Capital Ltd

Siraj Capital Ltd is an investment company specialized in developing, seeding and launching a range of innovative Shariah compliant investment funds and investment opportunities. Its objectives are to deliver attractive, risk-adjusted returns and prudent diversification for its Investors. The principals are active board members of leading MENA financial institutions and corporations. Over the last five years Siraj Capital´s principals have overseen over US$500 million in investment allocation across the MENA, US, and European markets. Siraj Capital is a subsidiary of the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia based, Ghassan Al-Sulaiman Holding Company and a member of the Al Sulaiman Group of Companies. Solidifying its real estate focus, Siraj Capital has forged a strategic alliance with DTZ Corporate Finance, a subsidiary of DTZ Holdings PLC, a global real estate services group with over 190 offices worldwide. Siraj Capital and DTZ Corporate Finance are partnering on several fund and project initiatives in Saudi Arabia and Middle East. For more information on Siraj Capital please visit: www.sirajcapital.com

DTZ

DTZ is a leading global real estate services company providing a full range of services on a local, regional and international level to investors, occupiers and owners across all sectors of the real estate market. The DTZ system has 9,000 staff operating from 193 offices in 40 countries in which it is represented. DTZ has advised on close to US$20 billion of real estate transactions in the EMEA region in 2005, has US$3 billion of assets under management and advised on over US$4 billion of assets through its asset management arm in Europe for global clients such as Goldman Sachs (Whitehall), J P Morgan Fleming, and Deutsche Bank Real Estate. DTZ has the longest and largest presence of global real estate advisory firms in the Gulf region. DTZ is listed on the LSE. For more information on DTZ please visit: www.dtz.com

Emaar Properties

Emaar Properties, the Dubai-based Public Joint Stock Company and No. 1 real estate company in the world, is listed on the Dubai Financial Market and is part of the Dow Jones Arab Titans Index. The company recently announced that its net profits for the year ended 31 December, 2005 climbed 180 per cent, to a record AED 4.731 billion. The figures represent a substantial increase on the AED 1.691 billion for the year 2004. The company also reported an impressive 59 per cent rise in revenues to AED 8.361 billion, as compared to AED 5.248 billion for the year 2004. Emaar, while strong in its home country – the United Arab Emirates – is now expanding acorss the globe. Emaar’s most recent international development is that of King Abdullah Economic City - a mixed use development covering 55 million square metres. As the single largest private sector investment in the Kingdom of US$26.6 billion, the City will create six distinct components - a modern world-class Seaport, Industrial District, Financial Island, Education Zone, Resorts and The Residential Area and up to 500,000 employment opportunities. For more information on Emaar please visit: www.emaar.com