Shares digital

Real estate investment group Dolphin Capital Investors (DCI:AIM) has unveiled its first investment outside its eastern Mediterranean core region, following plans to enter into a joint venture with Aman Resorts. Aman is already one of Dolphin’s operating partners, and through this latest joint venture, the former play of the week (Shares 2 August ‘07) will purchase and develop an exclusive leisure-integrated residential resort in the Dominican Republic. The resort, Playa Grande, covers 790 hectares running alongside a beach and will comprise a 40-room Aman hotel and 40 Aman villas, a 200-room five-star golf hotel and around 350 cliff, golf and seafront residential units.

Dolphin will have at least a 70% stake in the joint venture, which has fully acquired Playa Granda Holdings, the owner of the site, for an enterprise value of up to $57 million. Based on this enterprise value, the joint venture will invest up to $23.5 million for the purchase of the site and is also planning to invest a further $23 million for the design, permitting process and early stages of development and operation of the site.

In addition, Dolphin has unveiled positive changes to the current zoning status of the group’s Venus Rock Golf Resort in Cyprus, in accordance to a new zoning plan announced by the Cyprus government.

As a result of this, around 56 hectares of land have been converted from agricultural to residential for holiday home use with a 25% building coefficient. Thanks to these amendments, development potential has risen, and managing partner of Dolphin Capital Partners (Dolphin’s managing company) believes there is likely to be more flexibility in the master-planning and overall design of the site.

Although shares in Dolphin slipped 2% to 134.3p, these changes are expected to have a positive impact on the value of the Venus Rock resort and in turn will be reflected in Dolphin’s results for the year ending 31 December 2007.

Shares says: Dolphin has an ever-increasing property portfolio and has potential to grow further.