DUBAI -- The structure of the merger of mortgage lenders Amlak and Tamweel will be finalised before the end of 
the year.

Shaikh Khalid bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chairman of Tamweel and the Bin Zayed Group, said an extraordinary assembly would be held to announce to shareholders the recommendation of the government body that was created to look into all the aspects of the mandated merger of the country's biggest mortgage lenders.& Shares of both companies which are listed at the Dubai Financial Market, have been suspended since late November last year following the announcement by the government of their merger. Discussions are going well and most of the work is done. The expectation is that an announcement will be done before the end of the year,"&Al Nahyan said at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. Al Nehayan said the structure of& the merged entity took a long time to shape up because a lot of issues had to be threshed out, including the proper valuation of both Tamweel and Amlak's assets.

"We weren't clear about the portfolio, we had to make sure the numbers are right and properly sorted out. You don't go into a merger like this and still have an ambiguous portion of a large porofolio that is very hard to value."

Al Nahyan said the government will initially be infusing Dh2 billion for the merged entity.

Amlak and Tamweel, both of which comply with Islamic banking rules, were the country's two biggest mortgage lenders before the seizure of global credit markets blocked their access to new funding.

© Khaleej Times 2009