Dubai’s $16 Billion Majid Al Futtaim Abruptly Ousts CEO Bejjani

Dubai-based property and retail conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim Holding LLC abruptly ousted Alain Bejjani, a high-profile executive who’s led the firm since 2015, in a shakeup just over a year after the death of its eponymous founder, Bloomberg reported.

Bejjani told Bloomberg TV in August there were no plans to list any of MAF’s businesses, though the sudden change in leadership could signal a shift in those plans.

Dubai’s stock market has seen a flurry of listings over the past year, amid a push by the government to increase liquidity on the local bourse. Still, family conglomerates, the pillars of the emirate’s economy, have been absent and MAF, which regularly taps the bond market, has been widely seen as a top candidate among domestic firms to pursue a listing.

The city merged its economic and tourism departments in 2021, and one of the new entity’s main tasks is to prod private and family-owned businesses to sell shares on the Dubai bourse.

Bejjani started working at MAF in October 2006, according to his LinkedIn profile. He held multiple of roles at the firm’s property business, including chief corporate development officer, before taking over as CEO of the entire firm in February 2015.

The operator of Carrefour stores in the Middle East reported a 15% increase in first-half revenue and a 42% jump in profit in August, coinciding with a rebound in Dubai’s economy. The firm said footfall continued to increase at its shopping malls, and that hotel occupancy rates had risen.