The merger between Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real Estate became effective at the close of trade on 27 June, according to a statement on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. Shareholders will now be able to trade in the new shares as of 30 June.

The assets and liabilities of Sorouh will be assumed by Aldar and the newly merged company will operate under the name of Aldar Properties. The merged entity will have $2.14bn in capital and Sorouh shareholders will receive 1.288 new Aldar shares for every Sorouh share they own.

The boards of directors at Aldar and Sorouh had unanimously agreed to merge in January. A few months later the shareholders of the two companies approved the merger of the firms at their respective extraordinary general meetings.

The merger has been expected since March 2012 when the two companies announced their intention to join forces.

The merger creates Abu Dhabi’s most influential private sector client for construction companies with a land bank of 77 square kilometres and more than $11bn of projects currently being built. The merged entity also becomes one of the largest listed real estate companies in the region with AED47bn of assets as of September 2012 and a combined market capitalisation of AED10.9bn – based on share prices on 17 January 2013.

The new firm will be the fifth-largest listed company on the Abu Dhabi exchange by market capitalisation and the third-largest publicly listed real estate developer in the region behind Qatar’s Barwa Real Estate and Dubai’s Emaar properties.

Aldar’s property portfolio includes developments such as Yas Island, Al-Raha Beach, World Trade Center Abu Dhabi and Al-Falah National Housing project in Abu Dhabi. Sorouh has been awarded the contract to masterplan three investment zones in Abu Dhabi: Shams Abu Dhabi on Al-Reem Island, Seih Sdeirah - Alghadeer development in the Eastern Region, and Lulu Island.