Falcon Private Bank is open to buying rivals as it expects a wave of consolidation in the industry due to more onerous regulations, its global head of private banking said on Wednesday. Swiss-based but Abu Dhabi-owned Falcon would be open to deals covering its core target markets of the Gulf, Eastern Europe, Africa and South East Asia, according to Erich Pfister, who took up the role in […]
Arabtec’s chairman will meet officials of Egypt’s housing ministry on Wednesday to renegotiate the terms of a $40 billion plan to build one million homes in that country, a source familiar with the matter said. Dubai-listed Arabtec announced last March that it had reached agreement in principle with Egypt’s army to build the homes at 13 locations around the country, on land provided by the armed forces. […]
Declining oil prices are adversely affectingthe fiscal profiles of the countries in the region.Image: Reuters Mena sovereign ratings on the decline DUBAI, 4 days ago The sharp drop in oil prices since mid-2014 is likely to lead to weakening economic, external and fiscal profiles for the region, particularly for the GCC, said a new analysis released by Standard & Poor’s. However, of the 12 Mena sovereigns rated, […]
National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) is not interested in buying retail business of Citigroup, and is instead targeting organic growth in the country and globally, the bank’s chief executive told Reuters on Sunday. The plan to grow organically by the United Arab Emirates’ largest lender sets it apart from several other big Gulf banks, which have sought to use overseas acquisitions as a way to expand […]
Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power is obtaining a loan of about $344 million from three banks to finance a solar energy project in Dubai, chief executive Paddy Padmanathan said on Sunday. The 27-year amortising loan with an interest rate of 4 percent is being provided by Abu Dhabi’s First Gulf Bank and two Saudi banks, National Commercial Bank and Samba Financial Group, he told reporters on the sidelines […]
RIYADH, 2 days ago Saudi Arabia’s Mobily on Wednesday said it swung to a full-year loss in 2014 after the telecommunications operator announced its audited results, also revealing it had breached loan covenants with various lenders. Mobily — formally called Etihad Etisalat — made a loss of SR913 million ($243.4 million) in 2014 after it took an additional charge of SR1.13 billion, it said in a statement […]
Emaar Properties PJSC, Dubai’s largest publicly-traded real estate developer, plans to sell shares in its hotels unit in the second half and hired Rothschild as an adviser, three people with knowledge of the matter said. The offering is planned for later in the year because of conditions on the Dubai Financial Market, two of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. […]
Fast-growing Gulf Arab banks plan to bolster their reserves by issuing capital-boosting bonds, but uncertainty over regulation and ultra-tight pricing increase the risks for issuers and investors. Basel III standards, now being phased in around the world, will require banks to hold more capital. While Gulf banks have very high capital adequacy ratios, their rapid expansion, and the fact they operate in emerging markets with lower sovereign […]
|By Florence Tan and Henning Gloystein|Even as Saudi Arabia and its Gulf OPEC allies appear united in their refusal to cut output to boost global oil prices, they are becoming locked in an increasingly fierce battle to secure market share in Asia. Oil prices have slumped below $50 a barrel, the weakest since 2009, triggering a price war between producers to secure customers in Asia. And the […]
|By Andrew Torchia| It’s a weekend morning at the Dubai Mall, a glitzy complex with 1,200 stores, and the shoppers are pouring in. A traffic jam has formed in the basement parking area. With passenger arrivals at Dubai’s airport at record highs, retailers expect a good month. The 55 percent plunge of oil prices since last June might be expected to usher in an age of austerity […]
Limitless, a Dubai government-related real estate developer, has asked for a three-month extension to talks with creditors after failing to secure a new restructuring on its $1.2 billion debt pile, four banking sources told Reuters on Thursday. The company, which has already restructured the debt once before after falling victim to the emirate’s property crash at the end of the past decade, is aiming to secure another […]
Dubai Islamic Bank will reopen the Gulf bond market next week with a capital-boosting sukuk, the region’s first debt offering in two months as financial markets there wobbled under the impact of falling oil prices. A successful offering would not just bolster reserves at DIB, the largest Islamic bank in the United Arab Emirates, but also pave the way for others who may have been waiting to […]
Gulf stock markets fell sharply on Tuesday as Brent crude extended losses after plunging 5 percent a day earlier and the threat of a fresh euro zone crisis in Greece also prompted investors to sell risk assets globally. Brent crude touched a fresh 5-1/2-year low at $52.28 a barrel on Tuesday on oversupply concerns. MSCI’s emerging market index was down 0.9 percent. Saudi Arabia’s main index dropped […]
UAE. Dubai announced Saturday adoption of a balanced budget for 2015, the first time there has been no shortfall since the global financial crisis. Spending and revenues are both projected at 41 billion dirhams ($11.2 billion), according to an official statement cited by the official WAM news agency. Spending is set at 9.0 percent higher, while revenues are projected to be up 11 percent. Dubai is one […]
ABU DHABI // Young Emiratis recruited for national service will soon be able to complete their paperwork online. A new smart app will allow recruits to register information and upload documents, instead of having to visit a registration centre. The service will save time and reduce inconvenience, particularly for those who live far away from the centres, Brig Gen Mohammed Al Niyadi, head of strategic planning at […]
ABU DHABI // One of two brothers accused of killing a middle-aged man in a road-rage attack has had his death sentence upheld by a second Appeals Court – and approved by the Court of Cassation. The Emirati siblings were accused of harassing the victim, also an Emirati, as he drove to move out of their way. They then blocked his way to force him to stop, […]
The United Arab Emirates and Egypt appear the most attractive among major Middle Eastern stock markets in an era of low oil prices, the latest Reuters survey of regional asset managers suggests. The plunge of oil and equity prices over the last several months has stunned managers, and they may therefore invest their 2015 equity allocations to the region only gradually. “I think the next three months […]
Gulf stock markets rose on Sunday despite oil’s weakness as Saudi Arabia’s plan to maintain government spending at a high level boosted investor confidence. The Saudi government released a 2015 state budget last Thursday that provides for a 0.6 percent increase in spending from this year’s plan. That cheered the retail investors who dominate Gulf stock markets; they had feared falling oil revenues would trigger spending cuts […]
Gulf stock markets rose on Thursday as Saudi Arabia released a 2015 state budget that will keep spending high, reassuring the region that economic growth is unlikely to be hurt much by the plunge of oil prices. The Saudi budget envisions state spending at a record 860 billion riyals ($230 billion) next year, up 0.6 percent from the 2014 budget plan. That would be the smallest rise […]
Saudi authorities pledged to curb wages and push ahead with investments next year as the world’s largest oil exporter seeks to counter the effect of tumbling crude prices on the economy. The government said it expects the budget deficit in 2015 to widen to 145 billion riyals ($39 billion), from 54 billion riyals this year, the Finance Ministry said today. That amounts to about 5 percent of […]
In Saudi Arabia, where the currency has been fixed at about the same rate for 28 years, even the tiniest swings in the futures market reflect concern the peg will be broken. So the 0.2 percent drop that traders see by next year shows this is the most worried they’ve been about it since 2009. For Standard Chartered Plc and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, that speculation […]
Gulf governments seek to improve the livesof citizens and create jobs. Oil slump won’t derail $500bn Gulf infrastructure plan DUBAI, 2 days ago Slumping oil prices will not halt a massive ramp-up in Gulf infrastructure spending, as rich nations deploy huge reserves to maintain a breakneck development pace and the rest turn to buoyant funding markets. However, states are being urged to consider the most effective funding […]
A fresh drop in the price of oil looks likely to put more pressure on Sunday on stock markets in the Gulf, where investors appear to be waiting for the commodity to stabilise before opening new positions. Brent crude dropped nearly 3 percent and settled at below $62 a barrel on Friday after the International Energy Agency cut its outlook for demand growth in 2015. A plunge […]
Sliding oil prices, leverage and sheer panic have exposed the fragility of Gulf equity markets just as they are becoming mainstream destinations for international investors. In May, MSCI upgraded Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to emerging-market status, drawing billions of dollars of new money to them. Saudi Arabia will open its bourse to direct foreign investment next year, which could draw tens of billions of dollars […]
