News related to ARABIAN POST SPECIAL

Travelex buy puts Shetty in a new league

|By K Raveendran| It is indeed a milestone in the history of UAE’s expatriate business. The purchase of a controlling stake in Travelex by Dr B R Shetty is easily the biggest acquisition by an expatriate both in terms of its value and profile. It is also perhaps the biggest global brand acquired by a UAE-based Indian entrepreneur. There have been buyouts of higher values, but these […]

May 26

Markets

Asian shares hit one-year high on Wall Street rally

Asian shares hit one-year high on Monday thanks to a strong session on Wall Street and a decisive win for billionaire Petro Poroshenko in Ukraine’s presidential election. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.15 percent while Japan’s Nikkei share average gained 0.7 percent to hit one-month high. Investors took their cue from upbeat U.S. hosing data on Friday, with sales of new single-family homes […]

May 26

Angelina Jolie lays into Gwynneth Paltrow’s misery mumoir

Sour gripes: Gwyneth Paltrow’s lament has won little support from Angelina Jolie, above Photo: Getty Images Cat fight! Angelina Jolie has gone head to head with Gwyneth Paltrow; which would be pretty much every man’s brunette-on-blonde fantasy, were it not for the fact that one is so skeletal and the other so skinny that there’s a genuine risk their A-list bones might splinter into a million tiny […]

May 24

Shetty-acquired Travelex to be independent of UAE Exchange

|TAP Special|Travelex, which has been acquired by leading UAE businessman Dr. B. R. Shetty along with his partners associated with Centurion Investments, will continue to operate independently of UAE Exchange. The acquisition, to be effected through BRS Ventures & Holdings Limited, a company owned by Dr Shetty and equity partners associated with Centurion, is subject to customary regulatory and other approvals and consents. The acquisition will not […]

May 24

India Takes

Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya says Apple has lost its way, lauds Facebook and Google

Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, the former Facebook VP of growth for mobile and international, has criticized Apple’s strategies, saying the company is “screwed.” Palihapitiya, however, has a lot of praise for Facebook and Google.(Photo : Getty Images) Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya says that Apple has lost its “mojo,” compared with the overall better jobs being carried out by tech rivals Facebook and Google. Palihapitiya, who describes himself […]

India Takes

145 million eBay user accounts hacked: What lesson did we learn?

Let’s analyze what we should be careful about in the midst of the recent eBay hacking scandal. There are many lessons that can be learned from the incident about our privacy and security online.(Photo : Brian Cantoni I Flickr) As many of us have already found out, eBay was recently hacked while asking users to change their information and passwords. The question, however, is what we have […]

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Emotions Stirred Ahead of Pope Francis’ Israel Visit

Orthodox Jews protested against the forthcoming visit of Pope Francis to Jerusalem. Josh Mitnick/Wall Street Journal Pope Francis wants to spur interfaith tolerance during a trip to the Holy Land, but a planned Papal mass at a Jerusalem holy site is stoking the embers of religious rivalry that have plagued the city for centuries. Just days before the Pope’s arrival, hundreds of religious Jews turned out at […]

India Takes

Apple still very much interested in Beats but not for reasons you think

Apple’s blockbuster acquisition of Beats Electronics isn’t for technology. It’s for the talent. Apple reportedly wants music industry heavyweights Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young a.k.a. Dr. Dre on its executive board.(Photo : Beats Music) Apple’s rumored $3.2 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics is still happening, even though sources say the deal almost did not pull through several times, because Apple wants Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre on […]

Sue MacGregor: ‘I may not have had children, but don’t feel sorry for me’

Elaine Paige: ‘I do regret the fact that I never married and had a family of my own,’ she said. ‘But I’m of the belief that you can’t have it all’ Photo: David Rose When I heard what actress Elaine Paige said earlier this week, it struck a chord with me. “I do regret the fact that I never married and had a family of my own,” she […]

UAE Exchange to buy Travelex

|TAP Special|UAE Exchange owners are said to be in talks with Apax Partners, the London-based private equity firm that controls Travelex Holdings, to buy majority stake in Travelex. The transaction may be worth about 500 million pounds ($843 million). UAE Exchange is owned by BR Shetty, Centurion Investment and Infinite Investment LLC belonging to Abu Dhabi’s bin Butti family. Bloomberg reported quoting unnamed sources that a deal […]

Economy, India Takes

Complexities hold back sukuk’s global appeal

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 […]

Ed Miliband’s own cost-of-living crisis

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 […]

May 21

Agenda, Talking Point

Storm fizzes out of a bottle

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 […]

May 20

A Metro ride to Sharjah: How do you like it?

|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 […]

May 20

BP Chief Economist Christof Ruhl to Join Abu Dhabi Sovereign Fund

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, […]

May 20

Pre-Ramadan correction on DFM forecast

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 […]

May 19

Reports & Analysis

Scientists worry about milder forms of MERS

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 […]

May 18

Sales & Marketing

Outstanding achievement PR award for Sunil John

|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” […]

May 17

The Tories said coalition wouldn’t work – and they were dead right

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 […]

May 16

Off the Cuff

Dubai debuts new destination brand

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 […]

May 15

Dubai set to reclaim ‘crane capital’ status?

|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 […]

May 13

Commodities

Chinese stockpiling behind crude price gains

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 […]

May 12