UAE: Orient settles Emaar's $332-mln fire insurance claim
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | May 2017
Dubai-based Orient Insurance has made a payment of AED560 million (US$152.5 million) to Dubai’s largest listed developer Emaar Properties, being the final instalment towards a total insurance claim of AED1.22 billion ($332.2 million) over the fire accident at The Address Downtown hotel on 31 December 2015.
“With this payment, Orient’s total settlement of the claim stands at AED1.22 billion, which is the largest single insurance claim settlement in the region so far,” said a statement from Orient.
“Whilst we thank Emaar for their cooperation in finalising the claim, we would like to place on record our appreciation for the support extended by the strong panel of reinsurers in reaching this settlement in a record time,” said Mr Omer Elamin, President of Orient Group, who handed over the cheque to Mr Ahmad Thani Rashed Al Matrooshi, Managing Director, Emaar Properties.
“This claim settlement demonstrates Orient’s strong financial security and its ability to underwrite any complex risk,” he added.
Orient had earlier paid Emaar AED100 million as symbolic payment and another AED560 million as the first instalment against the claim.
Emaar had confirmed that it would recover AED1.22 billion from the insurance claim. The company had said that the claim from Orient would mean that it could reverse an AED301-million provision made in its 2015 accounts as the cash would be recorded as income in its fourth-quarter 2016 results.
The fire at the 63-storey tower was caused by an electrical short circuit on a spotlight, according to the police. M
AED1 = US$0.27