|By Matein Khalid| I had projected a bloodbath in the US Treasury bond market since late 2016, when it was obvious that Trump’s tax reform would double the US budget deficit at the same time as the Federal Reserve prepared to “normalize” or shrink its balance sheet by $470 billion. Fiscal stimulus is often a policy ballast amid a depression, as in the early 1980’s or 2009, not […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) and seven leading global Central Securities Depository (CSD) companies to collaborate on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) implementation in post trade operations, as well as capital market transactions. Today, securities processing, particularly in areas requiring multi-party contact and involving extremely cumbersome manual processes carry […]
|By Matein Khalid| When I first started on a Treasury bond futures trading desk in New York fresh out of Wharton, a senior mentor once advised to keep track of the four heartbeats of gold finance in real time. The price of money (interest rates), the price of currency (the US dollar), the price of oil and the price of gold. The price of money can be […]
|By Matein Khalid| Dubai based Gulf Islamic Investments (GII) acquired a one million square foot Amazon logistics center in Dortmund, Germany for $144 million. This deal is a testament to the boutique global merchant bank created in Dubai by GII’s co-founder/CEO Pankaj Gupta, who I am honored to call a friend. I consciously model my own firm Asas Capial on the strategic path laid out by GII and […]
By Saifur Rahman Dubai Government expects its Dh376.8 billion (US$102.67 billion) economy to grow at 3.5 per cent in 2018, slightly lower than the UAE economic growth, pegged at 3.9 per cent, according to a news release issued by the Department of Economic Development (DED), the government’s trade licensing body. The country has just implemented a 5 per cent Value-Added Tax (VAT) from January 1, 2018, expects […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| DP World’ made a capital spending of over $1 billion in 2017 for a series of acquisitions, technology tie-ups and other activities, the company said in a statement. These investments saw the global trade enabler expand its business horizons across the world during the year. The expansion at Prince Rupert in Canada opened for business, DP World Limassol in Cyprus opened a new […]
By Manish Rai Last year in June Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a land, sea, and air blockade on Qatar for its alleged support to terror outfits and being too close to Iran. The Arab neighbours thought that by imposing this blockade they can pressurise Qatar to set aside its own ambitious foreign policy and toe the line of its bigger neighbours. But during […]
|By Matein Khalid|The rise in Brent crude to $60 a barrel and the trade volume ballast generated by the world’s first post Lehman synchronized economic recovery is hugely positive for UAE economic growth in 2018. After all, the UAE is unique because Abu Dhabi’s 100 billion barrels of proven oil reserves is complemented by Dubai’s role as the Gulf’s financial, logistics, aviation, shopping and services hub. The […]
|By Matein Khalid|I am often asked by investors to articulate my “philosophy” of real estate investing. Tough question. My ideal deal is one where it is possible to buy brick and mortar assets at 60 – 70% of replacement cost. This usually occurs in the aftermath of a banking crisis or economic shock. This was the case in Florida homes in 2009 or Spanish office space in […]
|By Alia Al-Khater| The Middle East has a long history of coffee drinking traditions. Over the years, the traditions have been shifting towards more Western ones. More recently, numerous specialty coffee shops are being opened, many of which are run by local independent business owners. As people are beginning to appreciate quality coffee, the region can be characterized by its vastly expanding market for coffee drinking. Many of these […]
|By Matein Khalid| US and global equities surged on news of the US House of Representatives pass the tax reform bill, Cisco and Walmart posted blowout earnings and a potential bidding war emerged for Fox’s media assets. The rally on Thursday followed a week of carnage in the US high yield debt markets, flattening of the US Treasury yield curve and losses in the major stock market indices worldwide. […]
|By K Raveendran| The arrest of wealthy Saudi prince Al Waleed, whose investments ranging from Citibank to Apple to Twitter, making him the most high profile Arab investor on the global stage, may involve more than internal power struggle within the Saudi ruling establishment and the new Crown Prince’s spirited fight against corruption. Al Waleed may have paid a heavy price for his spat with Donald Trump […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Emaar Development said on Thursday it plans to price its initial public offering in between Dh5.7 to Dh6.9, thereby valuing the company at Dh25.2 billion. The company plans to offer 800 million shares or 20 per cent of the share capital, it said in an emailed statement.The final price will be announced on November 16, and the shares will be listed on the […]
|By Matein Khalid|Emaar Properties will sell 20% of its UAE development portfolio in an initial public offering in November. This is the first IPO in the UAE capital markets in the last three years and follows bellwether offerings such as Emaar Malls and Emaar Misr. Emaar’s Dubai development’s adjusted net value is 24.1 UAE dirhams and I would not be surprised if the post IPO revalues the […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| NRI Emirati Investors Group, a new UAE-based group formed by the Business Leaders Forum (BLF), announced that it will raise US$1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) in commercially viable big-ticket projects in India. The announcement was made at the inaugural two-day India-UAE Partnership Summit (IUPS) taking plae at the Armani Hotel, Burj Khalifa, Dubai. This would be the largest such collective fund-raising programme by a […]
|By Arabian Ppost Staff| DP World Limited claimed that its nine-months performance exceeded projections handling 52.3 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) across its global portfolio of container terminals, with gross container volumes growing 9.6% on a like-for-like basis, with the third quarter growth rates accelerating to 13.5% year-on-year. This is against Drewry Maritime’s upgraded industry estimate of 5.5% throughput growth in 2017. Global trade outlook improved significantly […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The Saudi government is not in talks with Chinese or other investors to sell a stake in Aramco, CEO Amin Nasser clarified. Aramco was reported to be planning to list nearly five percent of its shares in the stock market, which may now be done through an IPO. Nasser dismissed reports that the oil giant’s plans could be shelved and confirmed that the offfering […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to West African countries increased 12% to $11.4 billion in 2016, supported by recovering investment in Nigeria, an analysis conducted by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry revealed. The analysis, based on data from United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), was released by the Chamber as it prepares to host the 4th Global Business Forum on […]
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid’s new cabinet formation is predicated on a futuristic approach that lays greater emphasis on science and technology, transparency and the empowerment of women and youth. It marks a departure from the traditonal approach to governance steeped in the past rather than future. The age profile of some of those inducted into the new ministry would sound as though they are at the start […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) today announced the launch of its latest investment service ‘Technical Short Selling’ (TSS), an addition to the existing suite of services and products provided by ADX to investors through brokerage firms. The launch of this new service falls in line with ADX’s strategy to increase liquidity levels as well as diversify investment and hedging instruments in order to […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai-based Azizi Developments has announced the launch of a new mega community project in the heart of Dubai at an estimated cost of AED25 billion. The new mega project, whose name is yet to be announced, will have a distinctly British feel, with themes and elements influenced by contemporary British culture and way of living, thge company announced. The development will comprise residential, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The introduction of value added tax would force Dubai’s precious metals and gems businesses to relocate to other centres such as Singapore and Hong Kong, DMCC excutive chairman Ahmed Bin Sulayem has warned. VAT could lead to an “exodus” of firms in the gold and diamond industry from the UAE, Bin Sulayem said in a message to the Dubai Diamond Conference and urged the […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Trading conditions for smaller community and regional centres and non-mall retail formats have become more testing, according to the Q3 2017 Dubai MarketView by global real estate consultancy firm CBRE. As a result, retailers are increasingly looking for flexibility from landlords to help soften the impact of changes in sales volumes. But development activity across the retail sector remains buoyant with approximately 1.0 million […]
|By Matein Khalid| Jamie Dimon, the unanointed king of Wall Street and chief executive of New York banking colossus J.P. Morgan did not mince his words. He called Bitcoin “a fraud”, a speculative bubble comparable to the Dutch tulip mania of the seventeenth century and declared he would fire any trader at his bank trading in the cryptocurrency “in a second” for “stupidity”. This has only reinforced the […]
