SAUDI ARABIA. Banks with experience arranging Islamic bond sales may stand to benefit from the potential opening of Saudi Arabia’s debt market to foreign investors, according to the investment banking unit of Mashreqbank PSC. (MASQ) “There’ll be a lot of potential for non-Saudi banks to get involved on the advising and arranging side,” Abdul Kadir Hussain, who oversees about $700 million as chief executive officer of Mashreq […]
|By TAP Staff| Just over a year ago, China’s Xiaomi was little more than a mid-sized smartphone-maker with an odd name (Xiaomi means “millet”), trailing household brands such as Samsung, Lenovo, Coolpad and others. During the first six months of 2014, however, this four-year old company sold 26m smartphones, propelling it to pole position in the Chinese market. Next year, Lei Jun, its founder and CEO, expects […]
Militants from the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) taking aim at captured Iraqi soldiers Photo: AP In the wake of David Haines’ beheading, we have republished this piece explaining why Isil carry out their atrocities As Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria butcher thousands of “infidels” and carry off their women and children into slavery, many in the West are inclined to see […]
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was “extremely encouraged” by pledges of military assistance against Islamic State militants by countries inside and outside the Middle East and that some nations had offered ground troops. Kerry has been touring the Middle East to try to secure backing for U.S. efforts to build a coalition to fight the Islamic State militants who have grabbed territory in Syria […]
On the face of it, Jordan must be a tough sell to international investors: there is the ubiquitous threat of instability and violence lurking from neighboring Syria and Iraq while the kingdom’s small economy, which is reliant on foreign aid, is strained by high unemployment and budget deficits. Nonetheless, some foreign private equity groups are willing to take the risk. Buyout giant Carlyle Group last year bought […]
Jeremy Paxman, who is a quarter Scot, would have like a say in the future of the Union Photo: PA/BBC On Thursday, the English will discover what the Scots really think of them. Like the final row in a troubled marriage, it could be the event that serves to separate those we were once told God had joined together. The decision is not for those of us who […]
Secretary of State John Kerry and Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian foreign minister, in Cairo. By MICHAEL R. GORDON and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK September 13, 2014 CAIRO — Secretary of State John Kerry received broad assurances but no public commitments from Egypt on Saturday as he continued his tour of the Middle East to try to assemble a coalition behind an American campaign against the extremist group known as the Islamic State in Iraq […]
By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI and KIMIKO DE FREYTAS-TAMURA September 13, 2014 The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria released a video Saturday of the third beheading of a foreign hostage, a British aid worker. The execution was a clear message to Britain, a vital ally of the United States as it builds an international coalition to target the militant group, which has made stunning advances across Syria and northern Iraq in recent months. […]
Dubai retailing and restaurants group Marka will list its shares on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) on Sept. 25 in the market’s first flotation for five years, the company said on Saturday. New share issues dried up in Dubai when its financial crisis erupted five years ago and Marka’s flotation signals a reopening of the market as investment conditions improve. Marka initially planned to list its shares […]
|By TAP Staff|The rising popularity of Islamic finance in the West is prompting analysts to conclude that the world is finally recognizing the fact Islamic finance is not just for Muslims and it ready to go mainstream. Islamic finance received a shot in the arm recently with the move by US investment bank Goldman Sachs to revive plans to issue its first sukuk. In June when the […]
|By TAP Staff| Emaar is eying significant investments by Chinese companies in its King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia. According to Fahd Al Rashed, chief executive of the city, several Chinese firms have shown interest and the company hopes to rope in up to 20 percent of investments from the Chinese. The King Abdulla Economic City envisages a port and business district as well as residential […]
President Obama on Wednesday in Washington. Mr. Obama says he is aware of the “political price” he pays for being deliberate. By PETER BAKER September 13, 2014 WASHINGTON — Just hours before announcing an escalated campaign against Islamic extremists last week, President Obama privately reflected on another time when a president weighed military action in the Middle East — the frenzied weeks leading up to the American invasion of […]
|By Winfried Weber| German Mittelstand has become a new role model for managers from all over the world. A pilot study of Mannheim Institute of Applied Management Research found that mostly managers from Asia and emerging countries are attracted by the German Mittelstand model and send delegations to learn more about it. They come directly to Germany as the management education programs taught at business schools or […]
Rashidul Bari was born in Bangladesh in 1979 and has been studying in the United States since 2000. He considers himself one-half servant of education and one-half writer. He has earned five bachelor’s degrees, BA in political science, BA in economics, BA in mathematics, BA in computer science and BA in physics respectively, from three different CUNY institutions: York College, City College of New York and Lehman […]
President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden Photo: AP Were it any other US president in recent memory, delivering a rousing White House address promising to “vanquish” the bloodthirsty militants of the Islamic State from the face of the earth would be dismissed as the “easy part”. Recall Joe Biden, the vice president with half an eye on a run for the top job in 2016, […]
|By TAP Staff| Asia is giving expression to its growing disenchantment with the prevailing West-centred gold pricing mechanism by setting in place its own benchmarks that reflect the region’s market dynamics. China and Singapore are preparing to launch physical bullion contracts with an eye on gaining pricing power of the metal at a time when the global benchmark is under scrutiny. CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives […]
Stock index provider MSCI Inc is considering changing its rules to allow shares of Alibaba Group Holding and other companies that list their shares in faraway markets to be included in its widely used indexes. The MSCI announced that it was considering changing its rules last week, but did not explain the reason for the changes: questions from investors amid the Alibaba initial public offering, Reuters has […]
[embedded content] It’s no surprise that this smart thermostat is fully funded on Indiegogo. It’s got a clean, simple LCD touchscreen & uncomplicated controls. An app lets you control home heating, AC & energy saving from anywhere using your phone. It also connects with home automation systems like Apple HomeKit & OpenHome. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and […]
Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) has held talks with banks about raising a loan to help fund its general operations, the first time the firm has commissioned such a facility in years, three banking sources told Reuters on Thursday. While it is a rarity for the company to raise money not tied to a specific project, a loan would be the latest example of a Dubai state-backed entity tapping […]
Standard Chartered Plc is in talks with potential corporate sukuk issuers from China and Hong Kong, as the city government debuts its Islamic bonds. The lender, the fourth-largest Shariah-compliant debt arranger this year, sees Hong Kong as a “very unique opportunity as a gateway to China,” Afaq Khan, the Dubai-based chief executive officer at Standard Chartered Saadiq, said in an interview. The city’s entry to the Islamic […]
Banks with experience arranging Islamic bond sales may stand to benefit from the potential opening of Saudi Arabia’s debt market to foreign investors, according to the investment banking unit of Mashreqbank. “There’ll be a lot of potential for non-Saudi banks to get involved on the advising and arranging side,” Abdul Kadir Hussain, who oversees about $700 million as chief executive officer of Mashreq Capital DIFC Ltd. in […]
When Saudi Arabia lowered its oil prices last week, analysts declared that the No. 1 oil producer was more focused on maintaining its share of a well-supplied global market than on keeping prices at $100 a barrel or higher. AFP/Getty Images “It is fair to say that the kingdom is not in a rush to cut production soon,” said London consulting firm Energy Aspects in a note […]
Other than the burgers and booze, this party-in-a-box contains everything you need for a solid parking lot pre-game: a grill, a cooler, grilling tools, utensils, plates, an opener/lighter, and more. And it’s all recyclable, so just jam it all in the blue bin before heading in to the game, no cleanup. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re […]
By K Raveendran at CeBIT Eurasia, Istanbul Turkey’s Aktif Bank has no branches. In fact, in 2007, when the bank embarked on its journey, it did not even have a signboard. But today, the bank has one of the country’s fastest growing customer bases and every man on the street is its potential customer. Modelled as a ‘shop in shop’, its products and services are sold by […]
