Dubai's Zabeel Investments in $956 mln bank debt deal - report

DUBAI, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Indebted Zabeel Investments, which is owned by Dubai's crown prince, has reached a $956-million debt deal with lenders, according to al-Khaleej newspaper on Thursday.

The Arabic-language daily, citing an unnamed senior banking source, did not give further details on the agreement which it said was for more than 3.5 billion UAE dirhams ($952.90 million) in bank debt.

"Zabeel Investments has succeeded in settling its debt," the newspaper quoted the source as saying.

Zabeel, which has hospitality, property and private equity assets, owes approximately 6 billion dirhams to mostly local banks. Talks on restructuring the debt had ground to a halt in January.

A Dubai government official confirmed this week that the management of Zabeel had been taken over by state-owned Dubai Real Estate Corp.

Last month, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank filed a legal claim for $107.13 million against Zabeel, saying it failed to meet repayment obligations.

Zabeel, owned by Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed al-Maktoum, once had stakes in Sony Corp and planemaker EADS . Formed in 2006, the company also owns the lavish Zabeel Saray hotel on Dubai's man-made Palm Jumeirah island. ($1 = 3.6730 UAE dirhams) ($1 = 3.6730 UAE dirhams)

(Reporting By Mirna Sleiman; Editing by Amran Abocar)

((Mirna.Sleiman@thomsonreuters.com))