An international meeting in Paris next month may trigger billions of dollars of fresh investment in Dubai – and, if plans are not handled carefully, contribute to the kind of boom-and-bust cycle which nearly bankrupted the emirate four years ago. Dubai is competing with Izmir in Turkey, Sao Paulo in Brazil and Yekaterinburg in Russia for the right to host the 2020 World Expo. A vote of […]
Investors are becoming more discerning about where they put their money, shying away from countries such as Brazil, India (SENSEX), Indonesia, Turkey and South Africa. Behind the discrimination is a new-found focus on current-account deficits and structural weaknesses exposed by the likelihood of less stimulus from the Federal Reserve and cooling demand in China, according to economists from HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and International […]
Oman’s Galfar Engineering and Contracting GECS.OM said on Sunday that its managing director had resumed work after being questioned by authorities. On October 10, Galfar had said its managing director was called for questioning by “concerned authorities”; it did not provide the name of the executive or any additional details, such as why the executive was questioned. Its brief statement on Sunday did not give any further […]
Mezzan Holding Co, a diversified Kuwaiti conglomerate, will acquire the distributor of Red Bull energy drink in the United Arab Emirates, highlighting appetite for consumer-related investments in the Gulf Arab region. Mezzan is buying Unitra Mets Group (UMG) from Abu Dhabi-based Invest AD and its other shareholders, Mezzan and Invest AD said in a joint statement on Monday. State-owned asset manager Invest AD had bought a majority […]
JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon has pleaded with and complained to the U.S. Justice Department but cannot convince the government to end its criminal probe of his bank because prosecutors are not yet certain of their findings, people familiar with the matter said. Dimon has negotiated a tentative $13 billion deal to settle many of the U.S. investigations into mortgage bonds that JPMorgan – and […]
President Barack Obama will declare the glitches in a new healthcare website “unacceptable” on Monday and outline ways for consumers to sign up for insurance while his team scrambles to fix problems that have tainted the rollout of his signature healthcare law. Fresh from two weeks of budget battles that have consumed Washington, Obama will hold an event at 11:25 a.m. (1525 GMT) in the White House […]
Hosting World Expo 2020, which requires $7 billion in capital spending, will put relatively little financial pressure on Dubai’s government, EFG-Hermes said. Wael Ziada, head of research at EFG-Hermes, said Dubai’s budgeted $7 billion in capital spending for the Expo bid includes $1.4 billion for a metro extension, most of which is likely to be spent towards the end of the decade. In a research report, Ziada argued […]
Dahabshiil Holdings Ltd., a Somali company that provides access for overseas citizens to send money there, asked a U.K. court to stop Barclays Plc (BARC) from closing its bank account. The bank gave a “dearth of detail” on its decision, Alan Maclean, a lawyer for Dahabshiil, said at a hearing in London today. The bank’s dominant position in the market for remittances means it will breach competition law if it closes […]
Asian stocks marked time on Wednesday with nervous investors praying that frantic talks in Washington to avert a U.S. debt default could lead to a deal before the Oct 17 deadline, after which the government would run out of ways to borrow. U.S. Senate aides said an agreement to lift the government’s $16.7 trillion borrowing limit was near but details still needed to be worked out, leaving markets clinging […]
Dubai held first place worldwide as the most attractive destination, getting 13 out of 15 points, according to a recent survey on global tourist destinations. London also got the same ranking. The survey, which was conducted by Britain’s Dealchecker Blog and saw the participation of 1.2 million respondents, was based on a range of basic standards for determining the points and rank of each city. These include […]
Dubai International Financial Centre is relying on economic growth prospects in Africa and South Asia as it adds buildings with a value of 15 billion dirhams ($4.1 billion) over a decade. DIFC, whose clients include global banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), is seeing a surge in demand from Asian companies and from clients who are using Dubai as a platform to expand into Africa, […]
Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), owner of the world’s biggest refinery complex, reported the slowest profit growth in four quarters after refining margins declined. Net income rose 1.5 percent to 54.9 billion rupees ($894 million), or 17 rupees a share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, from 54.1 billion rupees, or 16.70 rupees, a year earlier, according to a stock exchange filing yesterday. That beat the 54.2 […]
The United States held out the prospect of quick sanctions relief for Iran on Monday if Tehran moves swiftly to allay concerns about its nuclear program, although both countries said any deal would be complex and take time. Six world powers – the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – are to hold talks with Iran on its nuclear program in Geneva on Tuesday and […]
Asian shares rose to their highest in nearly five months on Tuesday on heightened hopes for a deal in Washington to reopen the U.S. government and avert a possible debt default, though investors will remain wary until they see the final outcome. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8 percent to its highest since May 23. Japan’s Nikkei share average added 0.5 percent, hitting […]
Dubai’s Union Properties is planning to replicate the model of Shanzelize Street in Paris (Champs Elysées in French) in its MotorCity master development, Emirates 24/7 can reveal. “We have plans to build a similar project like the Champs Elysées Street in our MotorCity project. The street will have cafes, retail, residential with a waterfront view… we will be working on it in coming years,” said Ahmad Khalaf […]
International Finance Corp., the World Bank’s investment arm, plans to sell a record $1 billion of rupee bonds offshore to fund its investments as India struggles to lure capital amid the slowest growth in a decade. The bond sale aims to “attract greater foreign investment in a time of renewed economic uncertainty across the world,” the Washington-based IFC said in a statement yesterday. The so-called synthetic debt […]
A stampede by competing apartment buyers in Dubai this week may have obscured signs that Dubai’s latest real estate boom is more restrained than the last one, which pushed the government close to default. Dubai’s property spree in the middle of the last decade was built precariously on bank loans, spelling disaster for indebted developers when prices eventually crashed. The crisis shook financial markets around the world. […]
A call for the United Arab Emirates to consider allowing expatriates to apply for citizenship has sparked a debate about national identity in the Gulf Arab state, where foreigners outnumber the local population by more than five to one. Sultan Sooud al-Qassemi, a member of one of the UAE’s ruling families, is one of the federation’s pre-eminent commentators and also one of the most well-known Twitter users […]
One of the key pieces left in Dubai’s real estate regulations — an investor protection law — will soon slot into place. Top officials from the Dubai Land Department late last month made it clear that the Law (also known as Tanweer) and its provisos was on the cusp of being issued and that all options to “safeguard investor rights” have been incorporated. With Dubai’s property values […]
Dubai developer Nakheel will restart work on one of the three palm-shaped islands that came to symbolise the excesses of the emirate’s boom years, three industry sources told Reuters, in a sign the Gulf state is bouncing back from its financial crisis. The sources said Nakheel, which was taken over by the government as part of a $16 billion rescue plan completed in 2011, would soon announce […]
EFG Hermes, Egypt’s largest investment bank, said its co-chief executive had resigned after 18 years with the firm. Hassan Heikal, who is also a board member, will leave the company on Oct. 31, according to a statement posted on the company’s website. Yasser El Mallawany will now be sole chief executive, having previously shared the post with Heikal. “With my responsibilities at the firm drawing to an […]
Kuwait’s new finance minister has issued a stinging criticism of the country’s bloated administration and bureaucratic red tape, saying the economy cannot continue growing robustly in the long term if they are not reformed. The comments by Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz al-Sabah, carried by state news agency KUNA on Monday, were his first extensive public policy statement since he took his job in August. Sheikh Salem left the […]
A Dubai government-owned firm will refund $24.3 million to a property developer after a land deal turned sour, in a case at a special tribunal set up to settle claims against Dubai World that could help restore investor confidence in the emirate. Nakheel World, part of government-owned Dubai World and separate to Nakheel – builder of Dubai’s palm islands – will repay the money to Saudi-owned Al […]
Yields for real estate in Dubai have compressed and investors are now open of acquiring assets at yields closer to emerging Europe and higher than established markets such as Moscow, the 2013 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Real Estate Investor Sentiment Survey by Jones Lang LaSalle said. The survey indicated strong demand amongst regional investors for Dubai real estate, leading to the creation of a seller’s […]
