Emaar Properties, the Middle East’s biggest real-estate developer, expects revenue from its malls and retail business this year to double to as much as 1 billion dirhams ($272 million), boosted by new malls.

The company last year reported 498.95m dirhams in revenue from rental income, including retail and mall operations. Emaar is currently building malls in Egypt, Syria and Turkey as it expands regional operations, it said today in an e-mailed statement replying to questions from Bloomberg News.

The Dubai-based company in November opened the Dubai Mall, the world’s largest shopping center with 1,200 stores. The mall is spread over 12m square feet and includes an Olympic- size ice rink and an aquarium which contains 30 sand tiger sharks. The Dubai Marina Mall features 160 retail outlets.

bloomberg.com