|TAP Special| When state-owned Investment Corporation of Dubai announced last month that it was taking a minority stake in Nigeria’s largest cement manufacturer Dangote Cement for $300 million, it seemed like something coming out of the blue. But things began to fall in place this week, when the African conglomerate’s chairman Aliko Dangote announced in Dubai that he was contemplating billions of dollars worth of investments in […]
Nicolas Parasie for The Wall Street Journal In the past six months, the United Arab Emirates’ official credit bureau has ramped up its efforts to procure information: it collected two years of financial records for every single retail customer of each financial institution in the country. That process involved digesting some 100 million transactions, half of which are now fully uploaded into the bureau’s data vault. Marwan […]
Gulf banks are feeling the pinch of rapidly shrinking corporate loan margins, with some predicting a bounce in lending rates as soon as the first half of 2015 as the escalating price war bites into profitability. Lenders are being forced to cut rates and loosen lending terms to secure business as local banks, flush with cash as their balance sheets recover from the global financial crisis, seek […]
Dubai’s Emirates Airline, the world’s largest carrier by international traffic flown, has signed a deal with TAAG Angola Airlines to manage the carrier for 10 years and cooperate on “commercial opportunities” in Africa. The Gulf carrier, which also has a partnership agreement with Australia’s Qantas Airways, will code-share on cargo and passenger services, participate in each carrier’s frequent flier programs and coordinate ground handling, Emirates said in […]
|By TAP Staff| Following the huge success of Emaar’s malls IPO, Chairman Mohammed Alabbar indicated the possibility of floating the group’s hotel business, which includes the signature Armani Hotel. Meraas Holding, a Dubai government-controlled developer, has picked banks to manage the IPO of its theme park unit, three people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month. The company’s IPO is planned for the fourth quarter, […]
Kuwait plans clamp on energy subsidies Kuwait starting to cut subsidies, says IMF DUBAI, 3 hours, 26 minutes ago Kuwait’s government has started reducing some state subsidy payments and is in an advanced stage of preparing a plan to cut subsidies for kerosene and electricity, the International Monetary Fund said. Subsidy cuts are an important economic reform for Kuwait because lavish subsidies, mostly on energy, swallow about […]
Boost for healthcare, education Amanat Holdings to launch $374m IPO in Oct DUBAI, 4 hours, 0 minutes ago UAE-based Amanat Holdings, a healthcare and education start-up, will launch a Dh1.375 billion ($374 million) share sale offering on the main Dubai bourse in October, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday. The initial public offering is set at a price of Dh1.02 ($0.27) per share, representing 55 […]
Qatar… construction activity jumps 14.5 per cent Qatar’s economic growth edges up to 5.7pc in Q2 DUBAI, 4 hours, 21 minutes ago Qatar’s economic growth picked up slightly to 5.7 per cent on an annual basis in the second quarter of this year as robust non-oil activity outweighed a decline in the hydrocarbon sector, official data showed on Tuesday. Real gross domestic product growth accelerated from a […]
The PM has pledged seven-day GP cover by the end of the decade Photo: Geoff Pugh/The Telegraph Everyone will have access to a family doctor seven days a week by the end of the decade, David Cameron has pledged. But according to official figures, millions of patients have to wait a week or more for an appointment with their GP. Doctors’ unions are warning that there would need […]
|By TAP Staff| DIFC-based Henyep Investment Bank announced the addition of a large selection of international stocks, into its product list. Clients looking to invest in stocks of companies listed in matured equity markets like the US, UK and Hong Kong will now be able to trade over 100 international stocks, according to a release. Equity markets are riding a wave of renewed investor confidence due to […]
Participants at a microfinance conference in Dubai this week. Sanabel Microfinance has blossomed in recent years, helping fill a funding need for businesses too tiny and risky for traditional banks. Curiously perhaps, while microfinance has been a big hit across parts of Asia and South America, its start in the Middle East and North Africa hasn’t been as auspicious. Microfinance institutions have existed in the Middle East […]
|By TAP Staff| Emaar Malls Group, the shopping mall operator based in Dubai, said Monday that it had raised $1.6 billion in its initial public offering. Emaar Malls, which owns the Dubai Mall, one of the largest shopping centers in the world, with 3.7 million square feet in leasable space and 75 million visitors last year, is being spun off from Emaar Properties, the property giant that […]
A landmark ruling by the court system in Dubai’s financial free zone suggests the emirate is starting to influence the way international business disputes are resolved in the Middle East, partly taking over that role from London and New York. Last month a court in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) found Switzerland’s Bank Sarasin had mis-sold $200 million of investment products to Kuwait’s prominent Khorafi family, […]
| By TAP Staff| A report titled Future of Travel by flight comparison website Skyscanner predicts that Lebanon will be the ‘new Dubai’ in a decade’s time. The report looks at how hotel rooms and holiday destinations could change over the next decade. It lists 50 destinations that could emerge as holiday hotspots over the next 10 years, ranking them according to the projected growth per annum […]
Barjeel Data Centre…IT hub for operations Mercury Mena wins data centre project in Abu Dhabi MANAMA, 7 hours, 15 minutes ago Mercury Middle East and North Africa, a leading mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) company, has won a deal to provide the turnkey solutions for the new data centre for the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD). The Barjeel Data Centre will service as the information technology […]
Growing interest in sharia investments to boostfund value to $100 million. Sedco launches in-house managed Islamic fund JEDDAH, 8 hours, 30 minutes ago Jeddah-based Islamic investment firm Sedco Capital has launched the first fund managed by its own in-house team, looking to bulk up its asset management capabilities, the firm said on Monday. The Gulf equities fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, has an intial $30 million in assets […]
The Dubai Mall … a key property of Emaar’s malls unit. Emaar malls unit IPO priced at top of range DUBAI, 12 hours, 27 minutes ago Dubai’s Emaar Properties confirmed on Monday that the initial sale of shares in its malls unit priced at the top of the proposed range amid massive demand from investors, making it the largest stock offer in a Gulf Arab economy since […]
Made with hand-turned, FSC-certified American Walnut, Smoked Ash, Rock Maple and American Oak, these Bright Bead pendant lamps from Australian designer Coco Reynolds feature a variety of designs and shapes offered as single drops or with several clustered together as a chandelier. You choose the bulb and the color that best suits your space. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your […]
New home? Chelsea could move to Twickenham while Stamford Bridge is redeveloped Photo: PA YES, the sort of widespread disruption that once accompanied football matches is a thing of the past, says Jim White. The very idea of Chelsea fans arriving in Twickenham has apparently put some locals in a state of high anxiety. They are terrified for their hubcaps, petrified about their herbaceous borders, panicked about the […]
DubaiDino at the Dubai Mall – EMG’s flagship property in the emirate. Associated Press Retail giant Emaar Malls Group priced its $1.58 billion initial public offering–the biggest in Dubai in seven years–at the top of the range amid strong demand for its stock. Morgan Stanley is a joint global coordinator for the offering and also one of the joint bookrunners. Patrick Delivanis, its head of investment banking […]
BlackBerry Ltd Chief Executive Officer John Chen said he wants to return to the consumer market someday, though it’s too soon right now. The smartphone maker is focusing on business users, Chen told reporters yesterday at BlackBerry headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario. Already, the new Passport device for professionals has surpassed his expectations, selling 200,000 units since it was unveiled two days ago, according to Chen. “Over time […]
Dubai’s stock market looks set to see an influx of cash this week when Emaar Malls Group returns to investors the surplus funds from subscriptions to its initial public offer, which could boost the prices of other stocks. EMG, a subsidiary of Dubai’s largest listed developer Emaar Properties, closed subscriptions last Friday and will announce the final offer price on Monday, according to its prospectus. Sources familiar […]
Defiant pro-democracy demonstrators remained on the streets of Hong Kong’s financial center early Monday, after a day of protest-fueled clashes that left at least 38 people injured. Despite calls from organizers for them to return home, many of the protesters continued to jam streets of the business district. The demonstrations, which authorities have intermittently attempted to disperse by force, follow a week of student-led boycotts and protests […]
Dubai construction company Arabtec is close to completing the planning and design stage of its $40 billion deal to build one million homes in Egypt, the company said on Sunday. Arabtec originally announced in March that it had agreed with the Egyptian army to build the homes at 13 locations around the country on land provided free by the armed forces. Construction was to start in the […]
