Category: Economy

Dubai Aluminium's (Dubal) $1.8 billion seven-year term loan pays an interest margin of 145 basis points (bps) over Libor, according to a banking source close to the deal.The three arranging banks Citigroup, Emirates NBD and Societe Generale, which fully underwrote the deal, launched the deal into syndication earlier this week.Banks have been invited to commit $200 million to the amortising loan for a 90 bps upfront fee, the source said.Proceeds will be used to help fund general operations.Dubal's office was

Saudi Arabia will probably deepen discounts for crude supplies to Asia after leading OPEC to maintain the group’s output target amid a global battle for market share, according to a Bloomberg survey of traders.The world’s biggest oil exporter will announce January official selling prices to buyers in Asia this week, after lifting its Arab Light grade from the lowest level in almost six years a month earlier. The largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may offer bigger

Dubai Parks and Resorts expects to list on the Dubai Financial Market on Dec. 10 following the completion of its 2.5 billion dirham ($680.7 million) initial public offer, the company said on Wednesday.The firm, part of Meraas Holding, sold 40 percent of its shares at 1 dirham per share. Of this, 40 percent was sold to individual investors and 60 percent to institutions.The tranche open to retail investors was multiple times covered, the company said in Wednesday's statement. It reported

Shares in Dubai declined to the lowest level in five months as the emirate’s largest stock traded without the right to its next dividend and Gulf markets retreated amid plunging oil prices.The DFM General Index (DFMGI) fell 2.2 percent to 4,186.11 at the close. The gauge lost 19 percent since the most recent peak on Sept. 3, leaving it less than 50 points away from a bear market. The measure fell as much as 4 percent in intraday trading. Emaar

Deloitte LLP may be blocked from auditing companies in Saudi Arabia after the country’s market regulator told firms registered in the kingdom to stop using its local services, according to a circular obtained by Bloomberg.The Capital Market Authority said in the circular dated Nov. 27 that publicly traded companies it regulates should avoid working with Deloitte’s Saudi Arabian practice as of June 1. The ban could be revoked if Deloitte resolves a dispute the regulator didn’t specify, according to the

Plunging stock markets in the Gulf show investors are panicking about the prospect of $70 oil next year. But heavy state spending means most firms in the region, with the big exception of petrochemical producers, are likely to do just fine.The main Saudi stock index sank 4.8 percent on Sunday, bringing its losses from its September peak to 23 percent. Dubai's index is down 21 percent from this year's high. By contrast, the MSCI emerging markets index is down just

Middle East fund managers expect to put money back into Gulf stock markets in coming months once the shock of the plunge in oil prices fades, the latest Reuters survey of regional asset managers shows.The slide of Brent crude to $70 a barrel last week,from around $115 in June, has shifted the outlook for the oil-exporting Gulf economies. This has caused Gulf equities to underperform after a couple of years of strong outperformance.The main Saudi stock index has tumbled 19

Arch Capital Group Ltd. (ACGL) agreed to take complete ownership of Gulf Reinsurance Ltd. after losses on a venture that was backed by oil-producing nations.Arch will also take on liabilities from insurance contracts written in prior periods, the Bermuda-based company said yesterday in a statement that didn’t disclose terms.Gulf Re’s financial strength rating was placed under review, with negative implications, by A.M. Best in September. The ratings firm said yesterday that the Dubai-based business will probably post a loss of

Dubai Parks and Resorts, a unit of Meraas Holding, said on Friday that the portion of its 2.53 billion dirham ($689 million) initial share sale on offer to institutional investors had been many times oversubscribed.The entity, which is developing an entertainment area in the emirate which will include theme parks and other attractions, is selling 40 percent of its shares at 1 dirham per share.The initial public offering would be split between institutions, which would get 60 percent of the

Saudi Arabia’s shares retreated to the lowest level since March as the nation’s oil minister said no one should cut output to stem falling crude prices. Dubai’s measure declined.The Tadawul All Share Index (SASEIDX) lost 1.7 percent to 9,081.27 at the close in Riyadh, the lowest since March 3 and about 162 points away from entering a bear market. Samba Financial Group led the decline with a 4.9 percent drop. Dubai’s DFM General Index fell 2.5 percent to the lowest

Airport Co-ordination Ltd (ACL), the slot co-ordinator of Dubai International Airport, has asked Pakistan International Airline (PIA) to explain issues with flights that operated at a significantly different time from the allocated slot time which hampered the smooth operation of the airport. Dubai airport ranked among world''s busiest airports recently underwent runway repairs to facilitate around 30-40 aircraft operating in and out of Dubai and serves 180,000 passengers travelling to some of 260 destinations.The authority asks from its member airlines

Dubai Festival City, which owns the district that’s home to Ikea and Hard Rock Cafe in the emirate, is seeking a $1.1bn loan to repay debt and help fund expansion, two people with knowledge of the deal said.The company owned by Dubai’s Al-Futtaim Group plans to raise a 10-year, amortising facility from about eight to 10 banks, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The funding will be a secured, non-recourse financing, where banks

Egypt authorities said on Wednesday they have resolved a long-standing dispute over a land sale with Dubai-based conglomerate Al Futtaim Group, as the government seeks to clear a backlog of such disputes in order to win back badly-needed foreign investors.A cabinet statement said the company would pay a fee to cover a renegotiated land price at the Cairo Festival City development, but it did not give details.A government source had previously said the negotiators were considering a payment of around

Dubai’s inflation rate advanced to the highest level in more than five years, after prices in the housing index rose the most since at least January 2009.Consumer prices accelerated to 4.38 percent in October compared with the same period last year, the Dubai Statistics Center said in an e-mail today, the highest since May 2009. Housing, the biggest component in the consumer price index, added 6.67 percent, as rents increased 7.55 percent.Dubai’s inflation rate is rising as the International Monetary

India on Thursday achieved a major victory with the US agreeing to its proposal on food security issues at WTO, a development that will pave the way for a breakthrough to end the three-month long stalemate.The agreement comes two days ahead of the G-20 Summit in Australia, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other world leaders including the US President Barack Obama. The two-day meet begins on Saturday in Brisbane and WTO related matters are likely

OCI NV hired Barclays Plc and Bank of America Corp. to advise on the listing of its construction business in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.The company, controlled by billionaire Nassef Sawiris, is also working with Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes Holding SAE, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. The company is considering a listing on Nasdaq Dubai exchange, the people said.Orascom Construction Ltd., as

Honda Motor Co.’s Accord, the best-selling car to U.S. individual buyers in the first half of this year, is being investigated by the U.S. after regulators received 24 complaints about power-steering failure in 2013 models.Some 374,000 cars could be affected, according to a statement posted today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defect Investigation.Four complaints allege that failures resulted in crashes, all at speeds of less than 30 miles (48 kilometers) per hour, according to the statement.The

Saudi Arabia's Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), which has seen its share price fall by the daily limit for three straight days since reporting an accounting error on Monday, said it would not distribute a dividend for the third quarter.The firm, under investigation by the bourse regulator after restating a year and a half of earnings, also said it would evaluate whether to pay shareholders in the coming quarters.The move, announced in a bourse filing, comes after the telecommunications firm on Monday

The government of the emirate of Abu Dhabi is looking at ways to reform its system of subsidies for electricity and water, a senior International Monetary Fund official told Reuters on Wednesday, in what would be a landmark move by the emirate."We discussed it here at the policy level, particularly with the Abu Dhabi government, which indicated they are now looking at ways to streamline their subsidy policies and put in place something different, something better targeted," said Harald Finger,

Five years after collapsing, Dubai’s strengthening real-estate industry is getting a vote of confidence from investors in the emirate’s stock market.In September, Dubai’s flagship developer Emaar Properties spun off its malls business in a $1.6 billion initial public offering that enjoyed strong demand from investors. The IPO of Emaar Malls—whose main asset is Dubai Mall, one of the largest shopping centers in the world—marked the biggest share sale in the United Arab Emirates since 2007.Shares of the company are trading

Gulf investors from sovereign wealth funds to rich individuals increased spending on U.S. real estate, attracted by the pace of economic growth, a survey by Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. showed.Gulf Cooperation Council countries invested $1 billion in U.S. property this year, a 51 percent gain over the year-earlier period, according to the survey released in Dubai today.“It’s about grabbing a share of the American economy, which has been recovering consistently and effectively since 2011,” said Fadi Moussalli, Jones Lang’s regional

Airline Emirates  said on Monday it was ending its sponsorship of FIFA, a blow to soccer's governing body as it investigates whether there was corruption in the bidding process for the next two World Cups."Emirates can confirm that a decision has been made not to renew the sponsorship agreement with FIFA past 2014," the Dubai-based airline said in a statement on Monday."This decision was made following an evaluation of FIFA's contract proposal which did not meet Emirates' expectations."FIFA had no

The Federal Reserve said it sees further improvement in the labor market while confirming it will end an asset-purchase program that has added $1.66 trillion to its balance sheet.“Labor market conditions improved somewhat further, with solid job gains and a lower unemployment rate,” the Federal Open Market Committee said today in a statement in Washington. “A range of labor market indicators suggests that underutilization of labor resources is gradually diminishing,” the panel said, modifying earlier language that referred to “significant

Gulf Cooperation Council countries may see their current-account surplus decline by $175 billion next year if oil prices stay about $80 a barrel, according to the International Monetary Fund.The projected surplus for the six GCC countries may plunge from $275 billion to about $100 billion next year, Masood Ahmed, director of the Middle East and Central Asia department at the IMF, said in an interview in Dubai. The extended drop in prices would also “translate into an 8 percent reduction

Kuwait's privately owned Jazeera Airways is preparing to bid for a big stake in state-run flag carrier Kuwait Airways, Jazeera's chairman told Reuters. If the deal goes through, it will be a sign that the business scene is changing in the Gulf.For several decades, Gulf Arab economies have been dominated by the heavy hand of the state. Governments' huge oil revenues have eclipsed private sector activity. Benefiting from these revenues, state-owned firms have prospered while many private companies have struggled

Aabar Investments is demanding a hefty premium for its minority stake in Malaysia's No.4 bank, sources say, as the Abu Dhabi state fund leverages on its amplified role in a $22 billion merger that will create Southeast Asia's fourth-largest lender.When the Malaysian stock exchange last week barred the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) from voting on a plan to merge CIMB Group Holdings, RHB Capital Bhd and Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) due to the state pension fund's majority ownership in

U.S. stocks were lower in afternoon trading on Wednesday, with major indexes erasing earlier gains as a shooting at the Canadian parliament unnerved investors and Boeing and Biogen sold off following results.Indexes had traded in positive territory for much of the session, putting the S&P 500 on track for a fifth straight day of gains. Earnings initially drove the move higher, with technology and material shares up on the back of strong results.Market benchmarks began drifting lower in late morning

Saudi Arabian Airlines plans to raise at least 10 billion riyals ($2.7 billion) through the sale of shares in its ground-handling, cargo and maintenance units.An initial public offering of the ground-handling unit valued at 2 billion riyals will take place “in weeks,” Saudi Arabian Airlines’ Chief Financial Officer Muhammad Albakri told reporters in Dubai. The sale of shares in the cargo unit is planned for next year, while the maintenance section of the business will IPO in 2017, he said.

The new Rera service charge index is focusing attention on the vast differences in the charges property owners in different areas of Dubai are being asked to pay for services.The index, which was launched by the regulatory arm of the Dubai Land Department last week, compiles a list of itemised annual service charges for 300 individual buildings located in 22 major developments. According to calculations by The National using the Rera data, properties in the Burj Khalifa area paid the

An advertisement by the highway outside Dubai's massive Jebel Ali Port tells firms they don't need to ship goods through the Strait of Hormuz, the traditional gateway to the Gulf. Instead they can have goods delivered to a port in Oman, outside the Gulf, and bring them into the region by road."Why go through the Strait when you can go straight to the Gulf," the billboard reads, in a challenge to Jebel Ali, which has become one of the biggest

|By TAP Staff| Dubai-headquartered Transworld Group and NAWAH announced entering into a formal agreement to service Iraq’s growing demand for imports, linking their shipping, logistics, marine services and port capabilities.As part of their agreement, Transworld Group and NAWAH Port Management will team up to increase the flow of essential goods coming from the broader Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Far East and Southeast Asia into the historic Port of Basra with seamless linkage to commercial centers throughout Iraq.“Iraq stands at such

Emerging market-focused private equity firm Abraaj Group has bought a majority stake in Liberty Star Consumer Holdings (Libstar), a South African food and personal care product manufacturer, it said on Wednesday.Dubai-headquartered Abraaj bought shares in unlisted Libstar from its existing shareholders including Metier, Old Mutual Private Equity, Development Partners International and Lereko, it said in a statement.Abraaj said it would continue to support Libstar's pan-African growth strategy, including in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. It did not disclose the size

|By TAP Staff| Mobogenie , the fastest growing developer of applications for android and mobile devices, announced the launch of a new app development platform named CYMaker at the Global App Summit in Dubai.Mobogenie claims it will open up the world of app development through a simplified, free of cost solution with no limitations, no hidden fees, and no credit card requirement. Visitors to the Global App Summit were given a sneak peak of the upcoming product that will be

A Luxembourg court on Friday rejected a request by two holding companies of Portugal's Espirito Santo family for "controlled management", a sort of bankruptcy protection from creditors. Espirito Santo Financial Group (ESFG) and its subsidiary Espirito Santo Financiere SA still have the right to appeal, and the court has yet to decide on two other holding companies controlled by the family. ESFG is Banco Espirito Santo's largest shareholder, and is controlled by the bank's founding Espirito Santo family. Hoping to avoid a fire sale of