DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai World, the emirate’s main holding company, said this past week it is shifting executives and real estate from its property division Nakheel to the investment fund that owns Barneys New York and part of Cirque Du Soleil as it scrambles to convince lenders it can pay back its debts.

The announcement comes on the same day Nakheel and its rival developer Emaar Properties unexpectedly said they are pulling out of the city-state’s widely anticipated property expo little more than two weeks away.

The Cityscape show had been one of the highlights of the boomtown’s social calendar before property prices began to collapse last year. The pullout by the emirate’s two biggest developers illustrates a shift in focus toward completing existing projects rather than rolling out dazzling new ones amid the real estate bust.

Dubai World, under increasing scrutiny over its nearly $60 billion debt load, said it is transferring some of its international hotels and real estate projects to its Istithmar World fund from Nakheel, the developer best known for building the city’s islands in the shape of palm trees and a map of the world.

It also moved three executives from Nakheel to Istithmar. Andy Watson was named chief investment officer, while Binod Narasimhan becomes chief financial at the fund. Sandesh Pandhare will be managing director of private equity.

Dubai World described the moves as “part of an ongoing organizational operational restructuring process within the group.” A spokeswoman could not be reached for further comment.

Dubai World’s shake-up comes amid ongoing questions about the financial health of Istithmar and Nakheel, which has $3.5 billion in debt coming due this year.

The company said Joe Sita, the head of Nakheel’s hotel division, has left the firm. His departure comes after Istithmar announced two of its top investment executives were leaving last week.

Dubai World did not say which hotels would be transferred to Istithmar, though they are likely to include properties such as New York’s Mandarin Oriental and the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach.

Earlier this week, Dubai World’s DP World port division said its parent had dropped out of talks to sell a piece of the cargo handler to a regional private equity firm.

Such a deal could have given Dubai World additional cash as it struggles to pay back debt racked up during the boom years.

Lenders are keeping a close eye on whether Nakheel can repay its $3.5 billion Islamic bond package as a signal of Dubai’s creditworthiness.

Refinancing the Nakheel debt, and to a lesser extent $1 billion in sovereign debt due in November, “are seen as the real test of Dubai’s ability and perhaps willingness to repay,” Deutsche Bank economist Caroline Grady said in a recent report.

The emirate, one of seven sheikdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates, accepted a $10 billion federal loan package earlier this year and is expected to tap into another $10 billion before the end of the year.

Separately, Nakheel said it decided not to take part in the Cityscape show because it would be “more prudent to focus on property handovers on several of its developments that are close to completion.”

Emaar, which is nearing completion on Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building, struck a similar tone.

“With the opening of ... Burj Dubai scheduled to open this year, Emaar’s concentrated efforts are towards making the Downtown Burj Dubai community one of the best developments,” the company said.

Unlike Nakheel, Emaar is not majority owned by the government of Dubai. However, it is working to engineer a merger with three property companies controlled by Dubai’s ruler that is seen as stemming from Dubai’s property crash.

Property consultancy Colliers International said last month its widely watched index of real estate prices showed Dubai home values have plunged by half from their peak last year, making the once-booming Mideast city one of the worst casualties of the housing bust.

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