Crash and burn

A rather spectacular governance lesson came this past week from Dubai-listed construction and development group Arabtec Holding. The company, presumably driven by a mixture of its own daring ambitions and the resurgent construction business in the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf countries, had seen its share price double in roughly two months between mid-January and mid-April. The share opened above AED 5 ($1.36) on April 20 and rallied another 47 percent to AED 7.40 on May 14, its highest close ever. Amid a wave of surprising news, however, the Arabtec share price fell just as precipitously in the five weeks since and closed last week at AED 4.26 — levels last seen in early April. What makes this slide stand out was that the company started to dominate the trading activity on the DFM with high volumes of share sales around June 8, ahead of a series of surprising disclosures. On June