Nakheel and Amburaya Hotels in Thai Resort Joint Venture

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(BANGKOK, THAILAND) -- As the Dubai real estate market remains uncertain, Nakheel, one of the emirate's two master developers, is looking to the Far East. Today Nakheel Hotels and Amburaya Hotels & Resorts announced a joint venture to create a W-branded luxury residential project on Koh Samui Island.

W Koi Samui Retreat & Residences will include 17 private residences and a hotel consisting of 75 villas. The project is based on 27-acres including 900 meters of private beachfront, 15 minutes from Samui International Airport. It is due to be completed in 2010.

Joe Sita, CEO of Nakheel Hotels, said, "The W Koh Samui Retreat & Residences will surely be a star property in our global development portfolio. In selecting hotel assets to invest in we look for assets with high real estate value in exceptional locations."

Sunny Bajaj, Managing Director Amburaya Hotels & Resorts, said, "W Koh Samui Residences is moving away from the mass market and catering to an elite group of luxury real estate owners who want to be wowed by the finer things in life - particularly those inspired by W's unique mix of innovative design, comfort, fashion and art."

Within two years Nakheel Hotels has accumulated an impressive global hotel property portfolio valued at over USD$4 billion which includes the W Hotel Union Square and the Mandarin Oriental hotels in New York City; W Hotel Washington in Washington DC; the One & Only Resort in Los Cabos, Mexico; the Fontainebleau, Miami Beach; Corinthia Metropole, London; and significant equity stakes in Kerzner International Holdings Limited, operator of the Atlantis and One & Only brands; and International Hotel Investments plc, the owner and operator of the five-star Corinthia Hotel brand including hotels in Malta, St Petersburg, Lisbon, Tripoli, Budapest and Prague; and the franchise for easy Hotels in the Middle East, Levant, North Africa

Additional investments of Nakheel Hotels include the development of W Bangkok, Thailand; investment in a fund that will be rolling out 30 Tune Hotels in South East Asia; a 33% stake in the London Metropole Building which will be converted to a Corinthia Hotel in partnership with IGI; QE2 Enterprises including the QE2; and a 9.4% stake in Singapore listed CDL Hospitality Trusts which owns six hotels in Singapore and New Zealand operated under the Copthorne and Millennium brands.

Nakheel is one of the world's largest privately held real estate developers, and a key player in realizing the vision of Dubai for the 21st century: creating a world class destination for living, business and tourism. Nakheel is developing an iconic portfolio of innovative landmark projects in Dubai, and now in key markets around the globe, across a range of sectors - residential, commercial, hotels, retail, and leisure. Nakheel's projects are conservatively estimated to be worth US$80 billion. Upon completion Nakheel's waterfront projects will have added more than 1,000km of shoreline to Dubai's coastline.

Nakheel is part of Dubai World, one of the world's largest holding companies that supervises a portfolio of businesses and projects for the Dubai government across five continents and more than 100 countries.

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