Shares in Emaar Properties, the Middle East’s largest real estate company, fell sharply on Sunday as investors took stock of advanced talks to merge it with three developers owned by the emirate’s ruler.

The shares fell by nearly 10 per cent, the maximum allowed in a day’s trading, dragging the wider Dubai Financial Market General Index down by 6.1 per cent. Emaar shares, which make up about 20 per cent of Dubai’s index, fell to Dh2.89.