U.S. CONTRACTORS STILL OWED FOR DUBAI PROJECTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DUBAI 000457 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/FO; NEA/ARP/BMCGOVERN;COMMERCE FOR TYLER HOFFMAN E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/22/2019 TAGS: ETRD KIPR EFIN ECON PREL AE SUBJECT: U.S. CONTRACTORS STILL OWED FOR DUBAI PROJECTS REF: A. A DUBAI 000392 ¶B. B DUBAI 000354 DUBAI 00000457 001.2 OF 003 CLASSIFIED BY: Justin Siberell, Consul General. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: U.S. companies who in part helped fuel the real estate and construction boom in Dubai continue to lament the lack of payment to them by both the Government of Dubai entities and private property developers across Dubai. The amount of money owed to U.S. contractors varies quite significantly. However, anecdotal reports coming from individual U.S. company disclosures to USG officials puts the total so far just short of USD 400 million. It is not clear whether the USD 400 million is the bulk of money owed or represents the tip of the iceberg of a much larger amount of IOUs to U.S. entities. The sentiment of the vast majority of contractors who recently convened at the Consul General's residence centered on frustration over the lack of clarity and communication from authorities regarding plans to repay debts. Contractors are now considering writing off some of these debts owed to them as the fiscal reporting year ends and they begin the process of closing their books. END SUMMARY. -------------- NO ACCOUNTABILITY AND NONPAYMENT RAMPANT -------------- ¶2. (C) Hamed I. Zaghw, Managing Director in the Dubai office for Parsons, a U.S. based international construction and engineering firm, told Consul General and econoff in a gathering of U.S. business representatives at the Consul General's residence that there is no accountability among Dubai based developers when it comes to honoring debts owed to his company and others. Zaghw fears Parsons may never recover a substantial amount of funds owed to it by the Government of Dubai and other private developers. Zaghw reported to the Consul General that Parsons is owed approximately USD 200 million for services it provided to Government of Dubai entities, primarily Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA),and other local developers. Zaghw noted that the company has inquired about the unpaid debts at the highest levels within the Dubai government. However, senior Dubai government officials have only expressed sympathy for the company's plight, but have not offered any commitments or clarity regarding a repayment roadmap or plan to resolve liabilities. ¶3. (C) Meanwhile, private developers also have been slow to pay or have simply refused to pay debts or honor contracts in part because of real cash flow constraints, but in some cases simply because of opportunism. Zaghw speculated that some small and medium sized developers have simply been refusing to pay, not because of lack of funds, but to exploit the perception that the crisis has made all developers broke. The current trend of nonpayment has been especially exacerbated by the large developers in Dubai which tend to set the tone for the rest of the market. Ali Odeh, Chief Executive Officer for Turner International's Middle East operations, noted that smaller and medium sized developers look at large developers such as Nakheel who have all but stopped paying contractors and naturally question their own obligation to pay. Nakheel is currently committing the bulk of its cash to pay back bond holders (Ref A). -------------- CONSOLIDATION: A TACTIC TO HIDE DEBT? -------------- ¶4. (C) Zaghw also raised concerns about how the wave of consolidation among developers has made it increasingly difficult to maintain a consistent record of debts owed to his company (Ref B). Victor Arca, Director at Thinkwell, a small architectural design company, echoed a similar sentiment to Zaghw, explaining that many new managers at the newly consolidated developers have begun to deny responsibility for previous debts and contracts owed to his firm. Apparently, the frequent changing of management at consolidated developers has left an accountability vacuum as it relates to honoring or managing debt obligations. Leslie Orr, director of Middle East operations for CB Richard Ellis Property Management Company, said that there is a real lack of empowerment among the growing DUBAI 00000457 002.2 OF 003 stable of interim managers and new leadership at the heavily in-debt and newly consolidated developers. ¶5. (C) Many of the U.S. contractors participating in the round table discussion with the Consul General and econoff admitted that they feared the consolidation trend would potentially facilitate the disappearance of debts owed to their companies. Although, there is no specific evidence that debts have been nullified as a result of the recent wave of consolidation, many contractors complained that they have not been able to connect directly with decision makers and worse have not been able to get a commitment from developers about the total amounts owed to them. There is also significant uncertainty as to the quality of book keeping by the major developers who owe so much to so many. Jack Greenwald, Partner at the Dubai law firm of Chadbourne and Parke LLP, noted that all companies should be actively negotiating with individual debtors to pin down a number for total debts owed in order to be able to collect once the market recovers. -------------- PATIENCE IS KEY TO RECOVER DEBTS -------------- ¶6. (C) Ali Odeh noted in the same meeting that patience would be the most critical tool that U.S. companies could utilize in the current environment. Mr. Odeh explained that his company had already taken significant haircuts in debts owed to it by Nakheel and other developers. For example Turner had also moved to accept asset and land acquisitions in place of cash from developers. Odeh explained that the negotiated settlements were unprecedented in Turner's history, but more importantly represented a way forward for his company to recoup some losses and show solidarity with Nakheel and the Government of Dubai during this tough time. Odeh is confident that patience will bear the most fruit for his and other companies who give a break to cash-strapped Dubai, Inc and continue to "show loyalty" to the city in spite of the mounting IOUs on their financial statements. Odeh urged U.S. companies to seek new business in nearby markets less affected by the financial crisis, in particular Doha, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. In fact, Mr. Odeh pointed out that Turner had logged some of its best order numbers in the last six months due these tactics. -------------- LEGAL RECOURSE NOT A VIABLE PLAN -------------- ¶7. (C) Odeh cautioned his peers not to pursue legal action against delinquent companies or, worse yet, government entities in Dubai. He warned that legal recourse is not a prudent approach to deal with mounting debts. Most of the U.S. contractors present at Sunday's discussion conceded that they had taken the legal option off the table mainly because of the bleak outlook for arriving at a resolution. Odeh explained that in addition to incurring huge legal fees, a lawsuit would almost certainly affect a company's ability to operate in Dubai in the long-term. According to Odeh, companies that filed lawsuits in the past against Dubai, Inc entities had been black listed by authorities. Also, although Jack Greenwald noted that firms should seek legal counsel, he too reiterated that they avoid going down the road of litigation. Greenwald said that the Dubai courts are currently swamped with contract dispute cases. He also revealed that the Dubai Courts had been particularly slow in carrying out simple administrative processes on contract dispute cases with clients spending up to a year waiting to come before a judge. -------------- COMMENT -------------- DUBAI 00000457 003.2 OF 003 ¶8. (C) The growing chorus of anxious contractors awaiting payment from Dubai Inc and the Government of Dubai merely adds to the ongoing saga of Dubai's economic hardship. Also, although high profile developers such as Nakheel have begun to pay back bond holders, contractors continue to struggle to operate in Dubai under a mounting load of IOUs from Nakheel and others. As Dubai pushes through this tough economic environment and early signs of a recovery begin to emerge, there is now legitimate concern that debts owed to contractors may be forgotten, lost or even nullified amid the large wave of consolidations. As legal recourse remains an ineffective way for U.S. contractors to pursue payments for services rendered, the only option is to continue to negotiate and wait for business to pick up. END COMMENT SIBERELL