Dubai World may up its stake in MGM

DUBAI: Dubai World may raise its stake in Las Vegas-based casino company MGM at the right price, the company's chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said on Sunday.

MGM's board approved a deal in August for Dubai World to buy a 50 per cent stake in CityCenter, a 76-acre development in Las Vegas of upscale hotels, condos and retail for $2.7 billion.

"If the market conditions change we could be interested," Bin Sulayem, Dubai World chairman and a member of Dubai's executive council, told DowJones Newswires on Sunday.

The CityCenter is planned to open by 2009. Dubai World also bought 14 million MGM Mirage shares worth $1.2 billion, and an additional 14 million shares from public shareholders, giving this booming city-state's government a 9.5 per cent stake in MGM.

Dubai World is part of the business empire of the emirate's ruling Maktoum family. The company manages the Dubai's business projects worth billions of dollars. They include private-equity powerhouse Istithmar, port operator DP World and other big investment portfolios.

With the MGM deal, Dubai World is venturing into the gambling business without opening casinos in Dubai, one of seven Arab emirates, an Islamic country in a traditional and conservative Gulf, where gambling is strictly prohibited.