The US embassy in Abu Dhabi has sent an email to its citizens warning them to take care in rural and remote areas after someone was hit by a vehicle while walking in Al Bahia. “Due to a recent report of an individual who was hit repeatedly by a vehicle and seriously injured when walking on the road in Al Bahia, a rural area of Abu Dhabi, […]
|Special byTAP Staff|Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments is expected to reap rich dividends from its involvement with Mongolia’s coal industry in the wake of a landmark mining deal concluded recently. Aabar Investments has been the largest UAE investor in Mongolia since 2011 through its investment into Gobi Coal & Energy Ltd, which has been credited with the discovery of the massive Oyu Tolgoi project. Its two main projects, […]
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has launched a $500 million five-year debut bond issued by its Dubai branch, which is set to price later on Monday, a document from lead managers said. The bank, China’s largest by assets, set the final spread at 120 basis points over U.S. Treasuries, the document stated, tighter than the initial price guidance of around 145 basis points over treasuries announced […]
Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has picked six banks to arrange fixed income investor meetings from Thursday for a potential benchmark size, U.S. dollar-denominated senior sukuk issue, a document from lead arrangers showed. DIB, the largest Islamic bank in the United Arab Emirates, has mandated First Gulf Bank, HSBC, Maybank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Standard Chartered Bank and itself to arrange the meetings in Asia and Europe. […]
DP World, one of the world’s biggest port operators, has launched a $500 million, five-year bond that will price later on Tuesday, a document from lead arrangers showed. The transaction was set to price at a spread of 155 bps over midswaps, which is at the tighter end of a final guidance of 160 bps plus/minus 5 bps over midswaps. This is lower than initial pricing guidance […]
|By TAP Staff| RP Global – part of RP Group of Companies, a global business conglomerate with an annual turnover of over US$4 billion – made its entry into the Dubai real estate market by breaking ground on its new multi-storey residential tower project RP Heights. RP Global will initially develop two prestigious projects in the heart of the city with a total development value of over […]
|TAP Special| US airlines companies hired secret accountants to unearth how Gulf governments subsidized their airlines, including Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, western media has reported. As the battle intensifies over U.S. airlines’ allegations of unfair state subsidies to three Persian Gulf rivals, American carriers have been gathering data to support their claims sheds light on the vast financial reporting divide between the two sides. The U.S. […]
|By Nafeesa Syeed & Rinat Gaynullin|Saudi Arabia is burning through foreign reserves at a record pace as the largesse of the new king and regional turmoil ratchet up pressure on public finances already hurt by the oil price slump. The kingdom spent $36 billion of the central bank’s net foreign assets — about 5 percent of the total — in February and March, the biggest two-month drop […]
TOKYO—Japan’s Inpex Corp. has secured a 5% stake in Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations, or ADCO, one of the Gulf nation’s biggest oil concessions, becoming the second foreign stakeholder after France’s Total SA . The move suggests that as part of Tokyo’s efforts to shore up its energy supplies, the partly state-owned Japanese energy company was prepared to pay a hefty signing-on fee that other […]
|TAP Special| Citibank has lost a key decision in its defense of a lawsuit in Abu Dhabi accusing the bank of self-dealing, defrauding investors, and attempting to cover-up investor losses. The Abu Dhabi Commercial Court of First Instance on April 14, 2015 determined the lawsuit should proceed and ordered the appointment of a Committee of Experts to review evidence and determine Citibank’s culpability. The Court’s decision is […]
The two main stock exchanges in the United Arab Emirates are trying to attract market makers but some industry professionals say Abu Dhabi is offering more generous financial terms and more liberal rules than Dubai, suggesting it may have more success. Market makers stand ready to buy and sell stocks at all times, improving liquidity on an exchange – something which may be increasingly important as Abu […]
Most major Gulf stock markets, led by Dubai, rose on Sunday after the Brent oil price hit a 4-1/2-month high, while the bourse of energy importer Egypt closed in the red. Brent crude climbed to $65.80 a barrel on Friday because of continued fighting in Yemen and, although U.S. crude fell on concerns about another upcoming stock build, both benchmarks posted weekly gains. The main Saudi equities […]
DP World, one of the world’s biggest port operators, wants to issue a dollar-denominated bond and could announce plans to market the deal to fixed-income investors as soon as next week, three sources aware of the matter said on Thursday. The Dubai-based firm could raise between $750 million and $1 billion from the bond, depending on investor appetite and the interest rate the company would have to […]
Alitalia SpA may follow British Airways parent IAG in quitting the Association of European Airlines as a rift widens over the competitive threat from Gulf carriers, which are the biggest shareholders at both companies. “A strong signal is needed and other airlines have already done that,” Alitalia Chief Executive Officer Silvano Cassano, whose Rome-based company is 49 percent owned by Etihad Airways PJSC, said in an interview. […]
Dubai’s drive to develop its Islamic finance sector is fuelling growth of sharia-compliant banking but the benefits are unevenly distributed, with some lenders struggling to compete against burgeoning competition. In 2013, Dubai’s government announced plans to turn the emirate into a centre for an “Islamic economy” with sharia-compliant businesses ranging from banking to asset management, trade, food preparation and certification, fashion, education and tourism. This looked like […]
A $1.5 billion nine-year loan for Dubai’s Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) is being marketed to banks after receiving commitments from seven lenders to fully back the financing, three sources aware of the matter said on Thursday. The syndication phase was launched on Wednesday and will allow additional lenders to join in the facility, which ENOC said in January it would raise for general business purposes and […]
Apollo Global Management is in talks to expand its business into the Middle East for the first time through a joint venture with a local investment firm, three sources aware of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. The move is the latest sign of interest in the region from large Western private equity funds. They are searching for opportunities in previously-unexplored markets due to low-yield environments at […]
As chairman of Emaar Properties, Mohamed Alabbar has shaped much of Dubai’s skyline, but rapid growth in his outside real estate interests is raising the possibility of a rarity in the Gulf – open shareholder dissent. Speculation persists that Alabbar and Emaar, the company he founded in 1997, could soon part ways despite a categorical denial from the firm last month. His involvement in other firms’ projects, […]
Ninety-two unlicensed farms have been shut down by Abu Dhabi Municipality and Al Wathba Municipal Centre in Al Wathba and surrounding areas, Al Ittihad, the Arabic-language sister paper of The National, has reported. The closures came as part of an initiative to promote adherence to the law and reduce the number of unlicensed farms and residential buildings. The closures are also being carried out to protect the […]
ABU DHABI // The UAE Cabinet has paid tribute to the country’s Armed Forces during the ongoing Operation Decisive Storm military intervention in Yemen. The Cabinet also praised the leading role taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the action to restore safety and stability to Yemen, and stressed support for the international effort, reports Wam, the state news agency. “The UAE, and its brothers in […]
Dubai Investments, a diversified Gulf-based investment group, plans to float shares in at least one subsidiary next year and could also divest other holdings, its chief executive said on Monday. The firm, which reported a 63 percent rise in annual profit to 1.34 billion dirhams ($364.8 million) last year, has primed three subsidiaries – in financial services and property, plus district cooling firm Emicool – to potentially […]
| By Michael Sasso| If you have to fly from New York to New Delhi on April 1, you can book through one of the three big U.S. airlines for at least $1,100 round trip. Or you can take one of Emirates’ luxurious Airbus A380s for less than $900. That choice is at the heart of the complaint raised by Delta, American, and United Continental with U.S. […]
Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) priced a $500 million sukuk of five years duration on Tuesday, a document from lead managers showed. The Islamic bond was priced at a spread of 110 basis points over midswaps and carried a profit rate of 2.843 percent, the document said. The final spread was at the tight end of price guidance issued earlier in the day of 115 bps, plus or […]
Traders who have been storing oil since the start of the year are selling some supplies back into the market, completing a trade-play that made oil storage profitable, and re-injecting fuel into an already oversupplied market. The selling signals a winding down of a strategy that has seen at least 50 million barrels of oil stored in tankers, equivalent to about one month’s consumption in Britain, although […]
