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By Stanley Carvalho and David French
ABU DHABI/DUBAI, June 16 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi-basedconglomerate Al Jaber Group has signed a debt restructuring dealwith its bank creditors, the conglomerate said on Monday,addressing one of the United Arab Emirates' last big debthangovers from the global financial crisis.
Al Jaber, a family-owned group with operations in aviation,construction and retailing, had been in talks with bankcreditors to renegotiate its obligations since 2011.
Like many family-owned groups in the Gulf, Al Jaber lookedto expand beyond its core business - in Al Jaber's case,construction - during the boom years of the mid-2000s. But itwas dragged down by a poor performance in the new business, theweight of debt raised to achieve the expansion, and a slowdownin the local construction sector.
No figure for the amount of debt renegotiated was given inMonday's statement, but bankers had previously said it was inthe region of $4.5 billion.
"This is a great milestone for both the group and thebanks," Obaid Khaleefa Al Jaber Al Marri, chairman of Al JaberGroup, said in the statement.
Al Jaber joins other UAE firms which have sealed debtrestructuring deals worth billions of dollars, including DubaiWorld, property developer Nakheel and Dubai Group.
Still outstanding is a restructuring for real estate financefirm Amlak, which is renegotiating around $1.9 billionof debt but now has a tentative agreement with its creditorcommittee, a member of the committee said last month. Its shareshave been suspended since late 2008.
Al Jaber's creditor committee is chaired by National Bank ofAbu Dhabi and includes Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, HSBC, RBS and Union National Bank.
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Negotiations between Al Jaber and its banks were complicatedby the lack of tried and tested bankruptcy law in the UAE.
The need to have 100 percent agreement on the final dealbefore it could be signed meant all lenders' issues had to beaccommodated, which dragged out the process.
Despite agreeing on a five-year plan to repay obligations inMarch 2013 with the creditor committee, some banks - includingCitigroup and International Bank of Qatar - initiallyrefused to sign up.
Citi sold its debt to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, sourcestold Reuters earlier this year, while International Bank ofQatar and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp have now alsobeen bought out by local banks, two banking sources said,declining to give details.
Given the length of time taken to secure a deal, attentionnow turns to whether the firm's main construction business canregain lost ground in its main Abu Dhabi market.
"Throughout the negotiations period, Al Jaber Group hascontinued to successfully operate, winning significant newbusiness in the UAE, the region and Asia," Marri said.
However, backed by state-linked Aabar Investments,Dubai-based Arabtec has been making inroads into theUAE capital - in February, for example, Arabtec signed anagreement to build 37 mixed-use, residential and hotel towersfor Aabar in Abu Dhabi and Dubai worth $6.1 billion.
"Now that the debt restructuring is done, the group has tocompete in the market for deals. A lot will depend on how muchsupport it would get from the Abu Dhabi government in terms ofcontracts," said one local banker involved in the negotiations,speaking on condition of anonymity. (Editing by Andrew Torchia)