Dubai, UAE - Laing O’Rourke has appointed Lumina Capital Advisors to run the sale of its Middle East arm, the business behind Dubai’s Atlantis The Palm and Ski Dubai.
The privately held group said in an announcement on 11 November that it had chosen to seek new owners for the regional operations after “a period of exceptionally strong growth for the business”. Lumina is based in Dubai.
According to UK industry reports, the Middle East business has annual turnover of about $352 million (£266 million) and made an underlying profit of $16 million (£12 million) last year. Laing O’Rourke does not publish separate results for the unit.
The same reports put its staff at 204 people, with a further 620 trade specialists working alongside them.
Cathal O’Rourke, Group CEO of Laing O’Rourke, said: “Laing O’Rourke was built on a simple but powerful idea – that there is a better way of doing things for our people, our clients, our delivery partners and the planet.
“We have a proud 50-year legacy of doing just that in the Middle East – delivering some of the region’s most iconic projects, and most recently working with repeat clients in the data centre sector.
“The quality of our people and their work have built our reputation for delivery excellence in the Middle East and across our Group, resulting in three consecutive record order books.
“Given this enviable set of circumstances, now is the right time to secure a new owner for the Middle East business to build on that strength moving forward.”
Lately the regional team has been building data centres for returning customers, among them Khazna and Equinix, the company said. Its group annual report adds that in FY26 it was appointed to build Project Pilot, which Laing O’Rourke describes as the UAE’s largest data centre.
Earlier work in the region includes Atlantis The Palm, the resort on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, and Ski Dubai at Mall of the Emirates. Abu Dhabi’s Al Raha Beach and Expo 2020 also appear on the group’s list of key regional projects.
Laing O’Rourke’s Middle East timeline dates Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 3 and Concourse to 2005 and the Atlantis hotel and waterpark to 2008. Work for Abu Dhabi developer Aldar appears there too: Aldar’s headquarters in 2009, then the Al Bandar and Al Zeina phases of Al Raha Beach in 2010 and 2012.
After the downturn in the UAE, the contractor closed its dedicated Middle East division in 2010 and later moved the business into its UK and Europe hub. In January 2025, Dubai-based Arco Turnkey Solutions bought Laing O’Rourke Joinery, including its 50,000 sq m plant in Jebel Ali Industrial Zone.
The group said its attention now lies on long-term infrastructure programmes. Its UK pipeline covers Sizewell C, the Great Grid Upgrade and the New Hospitals Programme, and its Australian work spans AUKUS and the Olympics.
Its FY26 results showed a record order book of $22.8 billion (£17.2 billion), up from $15.8 billion (£11.9 billion) in FY25.
The company has not named an asking price, any prospective buyers or a timetable for the sale.
