Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi government investment company, is winding down its property development business as real estate prices continue to fall in the emirate. In unusually candid comments, Waleed al-Muhairi, Mubadala’s chief operating officer, said the company had “taken some gambles and I think been proven wrong in some of the businesses that we’ve done”, making a specific reference to the fund’s property activities.Mr al-Muhairi gave a rare glimpse into official thinking within Mubadala and the Abu Dhabi government, which is reviewing the sprawling network of state-owned companies it has built over the past decade. From a Formula One motor racing track to branches of the Louvre museum and New York University, the government has been the driving force behind Abu Dhabi’s expansive property developments. But prices have halved in the emirate since 2008, leading to many projects being scaled back or delayed. In December, Mubadala sold John Buck International, a property facilities manager, as part of a divestment strategy that will allow the company to focus on six core businesses: aluminium, healthcare, education, semiconductors, aerospace and media. High quality global journalism requires investment. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which only invests abroad, is the primary fund used to save for future generations, while the International Petroleum Investment Company invests mainly in oil-related assets. Mubadala has a broader mandate, to generate returns on government investment and aid the diversification of the Abu Dhabi economy.In recent years it has bought stakes in leading international companies such as Carlyle Group and General Electric. In November it invested as part of consortium in EMI, the music publisher. Some of its most painful investments were made at home, where the company has supported financially Aldar Properties, the struggling real estate developer, and Tabreed, a district cooling company that restructured its debt last year. The company it sold most recently, John Buck International, had suffered heavy job losses and worked on strategic projects in the emirate, such as a new business district known as Sowwah Island, and Twofour54, a media zone. Mubadala took full ownership of John Buck International in March, when it bought out Chicago-based The John Buck Company’s share in the joint venture that was set up at the height of the property boom in 2008. Nakheel, the developer that lay at the heart of troubled conglomerate Dubai World’s debt woes, has come under direct government ownership since the restructuring of its parent included a $9bn cash injection to revive some of its projects. And the Investment Corporation of Dubai, a government holding company, has launched a property investment fund to plough up to $1bn into the domestic sector in tandem with Canada’s Brookfield, along with other partners.Mubadala may be withdrawing from property activities, but the Abu Dhabi government has nonetheless picked up the tab for bailing out the UAE’s real estate industry. Two bail-outs of Aldar have cost almost $10bn, about the same amount that Abu Dhabi loaned Dubai in late 2009 to prevent a default at Nakheel and Dubai World. Mark-to-market gains and reserve transactions helped Mubadala return to profit in the first half of last year. However, in its core businesses the company continued to report a comprehensive loss for the first half, which narrowed to Dh453m ($123.3m) compared with a loss of Dh4.4bn in the same period last year.