Arcapita Bank B.S.C. announced the sale of 3PD Holding, Inc, a leading last-mile logistics company in the United States and Canada, for $365 million. 3PD was acquired by XPO Logistics Inc. (NYSE: XPO), one of the fastest growing transportation logistics companies serving North America. Arcapita acquired a majority stake in 3PD in 2006 as a growth asset that offered significant opportunity due to the fragmented and growing […]
(Reuters) – Shares of Dubai property developer Union Properties, in which lender Emirates NBD holds a major stake, surged 11 percent in massive trading volume on Sunday – a fresh sign of growing optimism toward the emirate’s real estate. The stock, which closed at 0.46 dirham per share, saw 423.7 million shares change hands on the Dubai equities market, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the market’s entire […]
(Reuters) – India’s currency cartwheeled to historic lows on Monday while markets in Indonesia took a spill, evidence of how rising U.S. yields are making it harder for emerging nations to fund their current account deficits. The turbulence heightened investor caution ahead of Wednesday’s minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting, with many fearing they might only add to the confusion about when it might scale […]
The UAE Central Bank said monetary aggregate M2 increased 7.8 per cent during the first half of 2013, while bank loans and advances surged 4.4 per cent and total bank deposits were up 7.5 per cent year-on-year as a result of an increase in resident deposits by 9.2 per cent. “The rise of loans and deposits reflects that there’s greater confidence of investors in the UAE economy,” […]
Qatar has reiterated there is no going back on its currency’s peg to the US dollar and said the riyal’s rate to the greenback is to be maintained at QR3.64. Local banks and exchange houses involved in foreign exchange dealings must use this rate with a margin of 0.24 percent. While converting the riyal to other currencies, they must use the above riyal-dollar rate as the basis […]
Saudi bank deposits posted a new record of SR1.36 trillion by the end of first quarter of 2013. The expansion in credit portfolios was facilitated by this enormous depositary base. Demand deposits remain the main beneficiary given the globally suppressed interest rate environment, according to a report by the National Commercial Bank (NCB). NCB’s customer deposits, the largest in the market, reached SR276.7 billion in March 2013 […]
Gold may extend a rally from a two-month high as an increase in demand from jewelry buyers in China and India helps counter a drop in assets under exchange-traded funds backed by bullion. Prices may rally to as much as $1,550 an ounce by the end of the year, said Jeffrey Rhodes, managing director of the financial institutions division of the Kaloti Jewellery Group, a Dubai-based gold […]
The Sultanate’s construction sector is expected to grow by 8.4 per cent to OMR1.7 billion, according to a research report released by Business Monitor International. The BMI in its report estimated a real growth of 11.9 per cent year-on-year for 2012, with industry value reaching OMR1.5 billion. The Omani construction and infrastructure sectors have defied global recession trends thanks to backing from oil-fuelled state coffers. The Central […]
Merrill Lynch & Co., the 99-year-old firm known for its “thundering herd” of brokers pitching stocks to Main Street, may cease to exist as a legal entity more than four years after being acquired by Bank of America Corp. While Bank of America will keep the Merrill Lynch brand for its retail brokerage and investment bank, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company plans to dissolve the subsidiary as […]
Gold traders are the most bullish in five months on signs that demand for coins and jewelry increased during a plunge in prices that prompted billionaire investor John Paulson to cut his holding for the first time since 2011. Thirteen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect prices to rise next week, four were bearish and five neutral, the highest proportion of bulls since March 8. Consumer buying of […]
(Reuters) – Qatar’s central bank has sent a draft circular on new Basel III capital rules to conventional and Islamic banks that includes requirements for issuance of instruments such as hybrid bonds, it said on Thursday. “This is a consultative circular. The final version is slated to be completed once a QIS (quantitative impact study) is undertaken for national banks,” the central bank said in a written […]
(Reuters) – The Dubai-based investment firm that bought English soccer club Leeds United in December after lengthy negotiations sold more than half of its 100 percent holding less than six months later, financial statements show. GFH Capital, a subsidiary of Bahraini Gulf Finance House, offloaded a 10 percent stake to Bahrain-based International Investment Bank earlier this year and its second quarter financial statement showed it had now […]
By Dinesh Nair (Reuters) – A unit of Libya’s sovereign wealth fund is in talks to buy a 35-percent stake in state-owned Tunisie Telecom from a conglomerate owned by Dubai’s ruler, three sources aware of the matter said. Dubai Holding’s arm, Emirates International Telecommunications LLC (EIT), is trying to reduce debt and is set to take a huge hit on the stake it bought for $2.25 billion […]
The domestic banking system in Saudi Arabia relative to many of the global peers, developed or developing, had maintained its inherent strengths that emanate from greater reliance on core banking activities, lower non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio, little recourse to wholesale funding and ample liquidity. During the last two years, Saudi banks have returned to a higher growth trajectory after a lackluster performance in 2009 that saw total […]
The commodities sector looks set for a relatively benign near-term future according to Saxo Bank, the multi-asset trading and investment specialist. Gold and silver should see a mild recovery over the next quarter and oil looks set to remain at current levels, struggling to push past previous highs. Any expectation that WTI crude will re-establish its historical premium over Brent looks improbable. Saxo Bank believes that changing […]
Global investors have become significantly more confident in the outlook for growth, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey for August. A net 72 percent of respondents now expect the world’s economy to pick up over the next 12 months – the survey’s strongest reading on this measure in nearly four years and a striking rise from July’s net 52 percent. Investors remain concerned over […]
(Reuters) – Saudi Telecom’s (STC) Indonesian unit has picked Moelis & Co to advise it on negotiations with lenders as the operator steps up efforts to restructure a $1.2 billion Islamic loan, two sources familiar with the matter said. STC backed the loan for Axis Telekom, its Indonesian arm, in 2011. But Axis’s poor performance has put the company in breach of some of the terms, four […]
By Jeanette Rodrigues & Ye Xie – Aug 14 Bloomberg: India increased efforts to stem the rupee’s plunge and stop capital outflows that are pushing the economy towards its biggest crisis in more than two decades. The Reserve Bank of India, whose Governor Duvvuri Subbarao steps down next month, cut the amount local companies can invest overseas without seeking approval to 100 percent of their net worth, […]
NEW DELHI – India, the world’s biggest buyer of gold, raised duties Tuesday on bullion imports for the third time this year as it battles to narrow a record trade gap and stabilize the rupee. The government increased the customs duty on gold to a record 10 percent from eight percent as it strives to break the country’s love affair with the precious metal. The announcement boosted […]
The stock of GCC bonds (both conventional and sukuk) increased healthily during the first six months of the year, the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) report said. Private sector issuance maintained a strong pace, dominating the GCC’s fixed income activity, driven by the non-financial sector, which also experienced its best six months yet. The stock of outstanding GCC fixed income instruments rose to 239.8 billion at the […]
Aug 13 (Reuters) – Barclays Plc is conducting a strategic review of its retail banking operations in the United Arab Emirates which could lead to a sale of the business, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Britain’s fourth-largest bank by market value confirmed on Tuesday it was holding the review of the UAE retail business but did not provide any further comment. The sources spoke […]
Bloomberg By George Smith Alexander & Anto Antony – Aug 13 India’s economy is growing at the slowest pace in a decade, companies are burdened by record debt and governance is so bad that even local cement billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla is reluctant to invest in the country. Yet some foreign entities, from Diageo Plc to Qatar’s government, are undaunted, finding buying opportunities as Indian firms look […]
Aug 12 (Reuters) – National Bank of Ras al-Khaimah (RAKBANK) has appointed Peter England, previously a senior banker at Malaysia’s CIMB Group, as its new chief executive, two sources familiar with the matter said. England, who was the head of retail financial services business at CIMB takes charge on Sept. 1, one of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the matter has not been […]
DUBAI, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Lenders including Deutsche Bank, HSBC and China Development Bank are resisting calls by Saudi Telecom (STC) to restructure a loan that could potentially leave them with losses of up to $600 million, banking and industry sources said. The tussle over the $1.2 billion loan highlights the risks banks face extending loans to state-owned companies in the Middle East, where billions of dollars […]
