|By TAP Staff|The much-awaited Dubai benchmark government sukuk is expected soon. The issue, which will have a life span of 15 years, is initially expected to be priced between 5 and 5.125 basis points and total at least $500 million, according to lead managers. The banks arranging the transaction are Dubai Islamic Bank , Emirates NBD, HSBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered. Dubai was […]
Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi’s biggest developer, is returning to development with three new projects and studying plans for an additional 20 amid a nascent recovery in the emirate’s property market, the company’s chairman said today. Aldar, which took over a smaller rival in June, will start sales of three residential developments in Abu Dhabi valued at a total of 5 billion dirhams ($1.36 billion). The projects include […]
|By TAP Staff| With mixed availability of commercial space across the Abu Dhabi market, potential occupiers remain focussed on prime Grade A stock, which is sustaining rents at the top end of the market, according to the latest research by real estate consultancy Cluttons. Cluttons Abu Dhabi Spring 2014 Commercial Market Outlook report, asserts that with flat rents persisting, occupiers remain in the driving seat and are […]
Saudi Arabia’s main share index rose the most in a month to reach a fresh six-year high on Sunday as investors shook off a slight dip in quarterly profit from the bourse’s biggest stock. Speculation in mid-cap stocks helped Dubai gain. The Saudi measure advanced 1.1 percent to its highest close since June 2008, up 12.9 percent so far in 2014. This came despite Saudi Basic Industries […]
Qatar is paying the price for its six-week spat with neighbors in the Gulf Cooperation Council as the nation’s borrowing costs and credit risk increase. The yield on the country’s dollar bond due January 2020 climbed nine basis points since March 4, the day before the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain pulled their ambassadors after Qatar denounced the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. […]
Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (TAQA) said on Thursday it had signed a 20.5 billion yen ($200.4 million) loan with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi which would be used to refinance an existing obligation. The majority state-owned energy firm said it had swapped the loan, priced at 60 basis points over Japanese Libor, into U.S. dollars and would use the funds to refinance a portion of a $1.2 billion […]
Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi state-owned investment fund with a mandate to develop the emirate’s economy, said on Thursday its 2013 net profit tripled as soaring stock markets boosted the value of its financial investments. Mubadala, which has stakes in General Electric and private equity firm Carlyle, said it earned 1.45 billion dirhams ($395 million), up from 470 million dirhams in 2012. Financial investments swung from a loss […]
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is gaining ground in the debt markets of Gulf Cooperation Council states after the biggest U.S. bank helped manage this month’s Islamic bond sale by Saudi Arabia’s utility. JPMorgan is the biggest bond underwriter after HSBC Holdings in the six-nation GCC in 2014, its best start to a year since 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The New York-based lender advised on […]
Investors in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar booked profits for a second day on Monday as global markets remained gloomy and tension grew between Russia and the West over Ukraine. But all three bourses later recovered to different degrees. After opening slightly higher, the three bourses dipped along with Asian and European markets as Ukraine threatened military action against pro-Russian separatists occupying government buildings in the east […]
Dubai-based entertainment venue IMG Theme Park has successfully closed a 1.2 billion dirham ($327 million) syndicated Islamic facility, as the company prepares for an increase in the influx of tourists into the emirate. Proceeds will go towards refinancing an existing corporate facility and to provide expansion for a Worlds of Adventure theme park, a $1 billion project that is expected to become the biggest indoor entertainment centre […]
Dubai’s benchmark stock index fell the most in a month, tracking a decline in global markets last week, on investor concern this year’s rally was overdone given prospects for earnings growth. Saudi Arabia’s gauge dropped. The DFM General Index tumbled 1.7 percent, the most since March 12, to close at 4,759.15 in the emirate. Dubai Islamic Bank , the United Arab Emirates’ biggest shariah-compliant bank, declined for […]
For decades the Cleveland Clinic has provided healthcare to the upper echelons of Middle Eastern society who fly halfway across the world for treatment at the Ohio-based private medical center. Soon, they can skip the trip. Early next year the Cleveland Clinic plans to open an ultra-modern, 364-bed specialty hospital on Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi, one of the most ambitious forays into the oil-rich country […]
The company planning the first initial share offering on Dubai’s main stock market for five years says it will spend the proceeds on opening more than 100 fashion stores, restaurants and cafes across the Gulf Arab region over the next five years. Marka, created by prominent businessmen in the United Arab Emirates, will offer for sale 55 percent of its capital or 275 million shares at 1 […]
The central bank of the United Arab Emirates will introduce on April 15 a mechanism allowing the country’s banks to borrow funds from it overnight, to help their liquidity management. The Interim Marginal Lending Facility (IMLF) will let lenders use certain assets as collateral to obtain one-day loans, according to a letter to banks which was published on the central bank’s website on Tuesday. Such mechanisms, common […]
A top Dubai economic policymaker said on Monday that an agreement to merge the two main stock markets in the United Arab Emirates, the Dubai Financial Market and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, had been reached in principle but nothing had been finalised. “It is going to be very positive. The agreement has been reached between the two – there is a dialogue but it is not […]
Abu Dhabi real estate developer Aldar Properties will consider floating its property management unit Khidmah through an initial public offer of shares in coming years, the company said in a statement on Sunday. Aldar, which is majority state-owned and is Abu Dhabi’s largest property firm, is the majority shareholder in Khidmah with a 60 percent stake. “We believe there is a strong case to consider listing the […]
Abu Dhabi’s largest oil refinery is preparing to boost production of the industry’s lowest-sulfur diesel within three months as standards for the fuel rise, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The emirate’s 400,000 barrel-a-day plant at Ruwais will only produce diesel with 10 parts per million of sulfur by July, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak […]
With a youthful, well-educated population, strong relationships with both neighbours and world powers, and a strategic location on the Gulf, major oil producer Kuwait should be as dynamic a hub for the region as Dubai or Doha. But while others in the Gulf have powered ahead, attracting foreign investment and developing infrastructure, Kuwait has stagnated, frustrating the people of a country once seen as a Middle East […]
Pricing guidance for a five-year sukuk issue by Dubai’s DAMAC Real Estate was tightened further amid strong investor demand, with final guidance issued in the range of midswaps plus 310-320 basis points. The size of the issue was expanded to $650 million from the originally planned $500 million, a document from arrangers showed. Books, which are to close at 1000 GMT in London on Wednesday, now exceed […]
After pouring billions of dollars into cities including London, New York and Sydney, individual investors and developers in China are expanding into Dubai. About a thousand individual Chinese investors spent 1.3 billion U.A.E dirhams ($353 million) on land, residential units and office real estate in Dubai last year, according to data from the Dubai Land Department. That is a nearly threefold increase from the 486 million dirhams […]
Pricing guidance for a $500 million sukuk issue by Dubai’s DAMAC Real Estate was tightened to the midswaps plus 325 basis points area, according to information from a lead arranger on Tuesday. Earlier, DAMAC set price thoughts for its five-year sukuk at midswaps plus the mid-300s. Books now exceed $2.25 billion. The sukuk is expected to launch and price on Wednesday. Joint lead managers are Abu Dhabi […]
SpiceJet Ltd., the Indian budget carrier headed for its third straight annual loss, said it sees little chance of luring investment soon amid elevated debt and intensifying competition. Although the airline’s owners have injected more than 5 billion rupees ($83 million) in equity in recent quarters, that “has not been adequate” to reduce the carrier’s dependence on debt, S.L. Narayanan, the chief financial officer of SpiceJet’s parent […]
|By TAP Staff| Fitch Rating sees RAKBANK’s viability rate (VR) constrained by its fairly small franchise rising credit risk exposure due to its expansion in unsecured SME lending and pressure on liquidity from a wide asset-liability maturity mismatch. The bank accounts for only 2 percent of the UAE banking assets, it notes. According to Fitch, RAKBANK’s viability rating could be negatively affected if the bank’s expansion in […]
Qatar Airways Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said he’s pursuing acquisitions after reviving an investment strategy that saw the company offered stakes in carriers including Italy’s Alitalia SpA. The second-biggest Gulf airline is “actively discussing opportunities” with other passenger carriers, Al Baker said in an interview, without specifying where talks are focused. “I would not like to pre-empt our decision,” he said. “We would rather […]
