Islamic finance has been one of the fastest-growing sectors in global finance but the industry has yet to shake off perceptions about high costs and complexity that are holding back some issuers. Sukuk, or Islamic bonds that follow religious principles such as a ban on interest and speculation, are now a major funding tool for companies in the Middle East and southeast Asia, and are becoming increasingly […]
How much? Labour leader Ed Miliband estimated the price of his weekly shop at something like £70 or £80 – roughly £30 below the UK average Photo: PA David Cameron must have been beside himself with glee. On the penultimate day of campaigning for the local and European elections, his two main rivals – Nigel Farage and Ed Miliband – bounced from blunder to blunder. Mr Miliband kicked […]
Coca-Cola’s Facebook page is supposed to have the biggest fan base for any brand. As per the latest tally, the page has over 82 million ‘likes’. A large part of this is obviously built up through paid promotion, but given that this is the highest number any single brand has managed to pull together on any social media platform, it is an achievement that the soft drink […]
|TAP Special| Sharjah might soon have its own Metro, which could be linked to Etihad Rai, as part of a massive plan to develop the emirate’s transport infrastructure, according to sources familiar with the plan. The newly-created Sharjah Roads and Transport Authority has been tasked with the responsibility of undertaking the feasibility studies in this regard. The plan also includes the development of new road networks and […]
BP’s chief economist is jumping ship to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to establish and run a global research team for the sovereign wealth fund. Christof Ruhl is joining the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to establish and run a global research team. Bloomberg News Christof Ruhl, a German academic who specializes in energy economics and has been with BP since 2005, will start at ADIA in July, […]
Analysts are predicting a pre-Ramadan correction on the Dubai Financial Market. They say this has happened twice before: in early 2006 after the near doubling of the market in 2005; and in 1999 when the Emaar-IPO bubble burst. It will happen again. The price-to-earnings ratio has swung from an under-valued 10 to an extremely over-sold 21. Emerging markets in the MSCI Index, whose highly prized inclusion of […]
Scientists leading the fight against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome say the next critical front will be understanding how the virus behaves in people with milder infections, who may be spreading the illness without being aware they have it. Establishing that may be critical to stopping the spread of MERS, which emerged in the Middle East in 2012 and has so far infected more than 500 patients in […]
|By TAP Staff| Sunil John, founder and CEO of ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, the region’s leading public relations consultancy, has been awarded the “SABRE Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement”, the first person from the Middle East to be honoured with this prestigious global award. The SABRE Awards, which are presented by The Holmes Group, a leading global public relations publishing organisation, acknowledged John’s position at the “forefront of change” […]
Happier days: Nick Clegg and David Cameron in 2010 agree to form a coalition government Photo: Getty Images Just before the general election, the Conservatives released a party political broadcast warning that a coalition would bring disaster. “Under-the-table deals will be the order of the day,” we were told. The fate awaiting savers was depicted by a hammer smashing a piggy bank. The process of proper government would […]
Ahead of a new global marketing campaign launching later this year, Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing has debuted a new brand for the destination. The new logo, launched last week at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), features the word ‘Dubai’ written in both the Arabian and Roman alphabets, reflecting the city’s rich multiculturalism. Announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister […]
|By TAP Staff| The reappearance of cranes on the Dubai skyline is encouraging analysts to predict that the emirate is soon set to reclaim the status it once enjoyed as the world’s crane capital. Construction cranes have dotted the Dubai skyline and are seen to herald the economic growth, with a major build-up of momentum in the real estate activity. Dubai was once home to almost 25 […]
If you are looking for an explanation as to why crude oil prices in Asia aren’t lower, then the blame rests squarely with Chinese stockpiling. China’s record imports of 6.78 million barrels per day (bpd) in April give the impression that oil demand is roaring ahead, but the reality is that almost half a million bpd is being put into storage tanks. The authorities don’t officially disclose […]
Dennis Lockhart, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, spoke to the American Business Council of Dubai on Sunday. Reuters Large Middle Eastern holders of U.S. Treasuries shouldn’t worry about the stability of their investments especially as the U.S. economy shows more signs of improvement following the worst recession in a generation, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said on Sunday. U.S. government debt has long been a key […]
The Dubai business community has been significantly more optimistic during the first quarter of 2014, compared to the same period of the previous year. Optimism is especially high among manufacturing and services firms, according to the quarterly business survey conducted by the Department of Economic Development. The composite Business Confidence Index for Dubai stood at 135.5 points in the first quarter of 2014, an increase of 22.4 […]
Dubai’s bourse has outpaced other Gulf markets by a wide margin in terms of companies’ first-quarter profit growth, data show, supporting its position as the top performer in the region. The emirate’s benchmark soared 108 percent last year and is up 57 percent this year, making it one of the world’s top-performing stock markets over the past 17 months. Although some analysts believe the market is overbought, […]
|By TAP Staff|The UAE central bank is considering the establishment of a Shariah Governing Unit to oversee Islamic finance on the recommendations of the Islamic Banking Committee. The progress on this front was reviewed by the UAE Banks Federation at the CEO Advisory Council meeting, which focused on a number of critical issues facing the banking sector in the UAE. During the meeting, Federation’s specialised committees reported […]
According to international real estate consultancy firm Cluttons, an upsurge in economic confidence following Dubai’s World Expo 2020 win, has led to heightened demand for commercial office space in the emirate. Rents for prime Grade A space in particular have continued to climb with a 10% increase recorded in Q1, pushing average rates in this category to AED 220 per square foot. Cluttons Dubai Spring 2014 Commercial […]
As Dubai freight-forwarding firm Able Logistics Group began preparing early this year to go public, it conducted a leveraged recapitalisation, taking on fresh bank debt so it could pay a cash dividend to shareholders. By the standards of developed Western markets, the transaction was routine. But for the Middle East it was an unusually creative deal, a sign that the region’s private equity industry is finally building […]
Dana Gas Islamic bond was the best-performing dollar sukuk in the world last month as the energy company’s rising stock price prompted investors to exchange their debt into shares at a profit. The fuel producer’s $425 million convertible bond due October 2017 made 3.46 percent last month, compared with an average 0.41 percent return for all dollar-denominated sukuk, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The share conversion […]
Dubai contractor Arabtec Holding plans to list a portion of its construction unit in an initial public offering (IPO) on the Abu Dhabi bourse next year, the group chief executive said on Wednesday. IPOs dried up in the UAE when its financial crisis erupted five years ago but a recovery in the economy, especially in Dubai, has led to some firms announcing plans to list shares in […]
The U.S. government lost $11.2 billion on its bailout of General Motors Co, more than the $10.3 billion the Treasury Department estimated when it sold its remaining GM shares in December, according to a government report released on Wednesday. The $11.2 billion loss includes a write-off in March of the government’s remaining $826 million investment in “old” GM, the quarterly report by a Treasury watchdog said. The […]
Emaar Properties is talking to regulators about the possibility of listing its shopping malls unit on Dubai Financial Market (DFM), the emirate’s main bourse, instead of Nasdaq Dubai, sources aware of the matter said on Monday. Last month, Dubai’s biggest property firm hired Morgan Stanley to manage an 8-9 billion dirham ($2.2-2.5 billion) listing of the unit, which would be one of the biggest equity deals in […]
Investors are switching their attention back to developing countries’ debt after flirting with U.S. and European junk bonds during a year of turbulence in emerging markets. A long sell-off in anticipation of U.S. stimulus withdrawal meant emerging sovereign debt posted negative returns last year but the sector has enjoyed one of its best starts to a year in a decade in 2014, investors say, with returns of […]
Qatar has resolved its dispute with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, according to Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah. The spat was nothing more than “differences in opinion,” Attiyah told reporters in Kuwait. The resolution came at an April 17 meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, and the results aren’t “considered concessions by anyone,” he said. It’s up to Qatar’s fellow Gulf Arab countries […]
Oman’s plan to build a $1 billion natural-gas pipeline from Iran is the latest sign that Saudi Arabia is failing to bind its smaller Gulf neighbors into a tighter bloc united in hostility to the Islamic Republic. The accord was signed during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Oman last month, and marks the first such deal between Iran and a Gulf Cooperation Council state in more […]
Indians have topped the list of foreign investors in real estate in Dubai, pumping in $1.6 billion during the first quarter of 2014, according to a government agency. According to Dubai Land Department (DLD), 111 nationalities secured property deals in the first quarter of 2014. Indians were at the top spot for international investment, both in terms of the number of investors (2,414) and the amount of […]
| By K Raveendran| There has been a considerable media buzz over the recent Saudi announcement that work to build the a kilometre tall Kingdom Tower in Jeddah is set to start within a few days. The regional media, in particular, is celebrating the prospect of the new tower deposing Dubai’s iconic Burj Khalifa, currently the world’s tallest skyscraper. According to the project consultants, the Saudi tower […]
Saudi Arabia’s main share index rose the most in a month to reach a fresh six-year high on Sunday as investors shook off a slight dip in quarterly profit from the bourse’s biggest stock. Speculation in mid-cap stocks helped Dubai gain. The Saudi measure advanced 1.1 percent to its highest close since June 2008, up 12.9 percent so far in 2014. This came despite Saudi Basic Industries […]
Hotels in Dubai achieved an average occupancy of more than 87 percent during March, despite supply outpacing demand for the month, according to new data released by STR Global. Its preliminary February data for Dubai showed that occupancy stood at 87.2 percent for the month, a 1.2 percent increase on the year-earlier period. Based on the new data, the emirate reported increases in supply (up 7.4 percent) […]
The masterplan for the $1.6bn Bluewaters Island project off the coast of Dubai’s Jumeirah Beach Residences is to undergo a redesign. The island, which is being developed by government-owned developer Meraas, is currently split into three zones. One contains the Dubai Eye – the world’s tallest, 210m-high Ferris Wheel – and is surrounded by other retail and leisure units. A second zone, facing out onto the Arabian […]
