Arabtec Holding, the Dubai-listed parent company of contractor Arabtec Construction has dismissed rumours that Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments is about to take a stake in the firm.

In a company statement Arabtec said there was no truth to the rumours that had driven the company’s stock price up by 20 per cent since mid-December.

Arabtec is one of the region’s largest contracting companies with projects in the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

Most of its new work this year has come from Saudi Arabia. In June it won SR2bn ($532m) contract to build the Lamar Towers development in Jeddah, and in April it won a SR1.5bn contract at the Princess Noura Abdul Rahman University in Riyadh.

Arabtec Saudi Arabia was formed in March. It is a partnership between UAE-based Arabtec Construction and two Saudi Companies, Prime International Group Services and CPC Services Company, a subsidiary of Saudi Binladin Group (MEED 11:6:09).