Dubai-based Emaar Properties plans to sell shares in its hotel business following its hugely successful malls unit public offering, according to a report.

The company will announce the hotel sale “in the next few months,” chairman Mohamed Alabbar was quoted as saying by Bloomberg Businessweek (www.businessweek.com) at a conference in Dubai, UAE.

Alabbar declined to provide more details on the IPO, the report said.

Shares in Emaar Malls Group (EMG) were allocated at Dh2.90 apiece following huge demand, giving an overall sale value of Dh5.8 billion ($1.6 billion) and making it the largest stock sale in the Gulf region since 2008, a Reuters report said.

After years of debt-fuelled expansion, Dubai was hit hard by the global financial crisis and needed a multi-billion dollar cash injection by neighbouring emirate Abu Dhabi.

Several of its largest companies have since undergone painful restructurings, while a pick up in revenue from the core industries of travel and tourism - of which EMG's Dubai Mall is among the biggest draws - has helped to lure investors back.

With a market value of Dh37.7 billion upon listing, EMG will become the third-largest stock on the Dubai Financial Market when it begins trading on October 2.

It is the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in the Gulf since Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma'aden) raised $2.47 billion from its debut on the Saudi stock exchange in July 2008.