Dubai construction company Arabtec’s former boss has sold about $4 million worth of shares in the group this week, cutting his stake slightly, stock exchange data showed. Arabtec’s shares have swung around wildly this year on apparent tensions between chief executive Hasan Ismaik and Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar Investments, also a major Arabtec shareholder. Ismaik resigned abruptly in June. Ismaik cut his stake to 28.77 percent […]
|By K Raveendran| The Dubai real estate scene today has several similarities with the pre-crisis situation of 2008, which ultimately led to the emirate’s property bubble. Conflicting signals, including a series of big ticket announcements, entry of new developers and growing concern about overheating in the market, are making it a thoroughly confusing proposition. The announcement of the Mall of the World, a domed, climate-controlled city more […]
Middle East funds are heavily bullish towards Saudi Arabian stocks after news the market will open to direct foreign investment, while they are bearish on the United Arab Emirates because of concern about high valuations. The latest Reuters survey of 15 leading investment managers,conducted over the past 10 days, showed two-thirds expected to raise their equity allocations to Saudi Arabia in the next three months, up from […]
Dubai shares gained the most in almost seven years in July, helping claw back some of the losses sustained in a bear market that wiped a quarter off the benchmark index. Real estate-related companies led the rally. Arabtec Holding Co. (ARTC), which spurred the DFM General Index’s collapse in May and June, advanced 4.9 percent today to bring monthly gains to 63 percent. Emaar Properties PJSC, the […]
Dubai luxury property developer DAMAC is offering investors the option of converting its Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), listed on the London bourse, into ordinary shares that would be listed on Dubai’s main stock market. Investors would get around 23.08 shares per GDR. They have until Sept. 2 to decide on the offer, the developer said in a statement to the London bourse on Wednesday. No new shares […]
ABU DHABI // The Ebola virus that has killed hundreds in West Africa poses little risk to the UAE, experts have said. The odds are low that an Ebola infection could reach the country and lead to an outbreak, said Dr Salwan Ibrahim, Middle East medical director for International SOS in Dubai. “The Ebola virus is a potentially severe illness and the outbreak in West Africa has […]
Damac Properties is recommending investors convert GDRs, listed on the London bourse, into shares that would be listed on Dubai’s stock market. Reuters A company needs to sell at least 55% of its stock to list on the main U.A.E. bourses – a regulation that has been blamed in part for the weak IPO market in the Arab Gulf country. After all, most big companies in the […]
ABU DHABI // The internet needs more quality content in Arabic for the 141 million users who speak the language. Forty per cent of people in the Middle East have internet access, 87 per cent of them at home, and Arabic is the eighth most used language, according to Google figures. Half the population is under 25, the prime age group for internet use on phones and tablets, […]
Three young rebels, their AK47s propped against wooden stools in the afternoon heat, guard the entrance to the giant Ndassima goldmine carved deep into a forested hilltop in Central African Republic. Sat in a thatched shack at the edge of a muddy shantytown, the gunmen keep the peace – for a price – among hundreds of illegal miners who swarm over the steep sides of the glittering […]
DUBAI // Dubai has been ranked the world’s second-most expensive city in which to stay, and industry experts say tourists are travelling to nearby emirates to avoid the rising costs of hotels. In a list compiled by Bloomberg, Geneva was the most expensive city, and Kuwait and Zurich were third and fourth. The average cost of a room in Geneva is US$308 (Dh1,131), followed by Dubai at […]
DUBAI // Moein Al Bastaki was not aware of the controversy that becoming a magician would bring to his life. But Al Bastaki, 34, is adamant he can change the perceptions of magic and illusions among Gulf Arabs. “Coming from an Islamic background I faced a lot of difficulties,” he says. “This concept of being a magician is totally wrong and, in the Quran, it’s totally against […]
DUBAI // Nearly 20 years ago a filmmaker and a musician tracked down a group of long-forgotten entertainers in Havana and turned them into global music and movie stars. Wim Wenders and Ry Cooder sparked a rebirth of traditional Cuban music with The Buena Vista Social Club. Now the filmmaker Ray Haddad and the British musician Jason Carter aim to do the same with the musical tradition […]
ABU DHABI // The image of Emirati female managers as subservient employees in a male-dominated work environment is a myth, a new study suggests. In fact they are clever, ambitious, hard working and not afraid to stand up to sex discrimination in pursuit of their professional success. “They are ambitious, but they are trying to pick their battles,” said Dr Hayfaa Tlaiss, researcher and author of the […]
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. lender, is cutting hundreds of technology support employees in its corporate and investment bank amid a revenue decline, people with knowledge of the move said. Workers in locations including New York, Tampa, Chicago and Dubai were notified of the cuts this month, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter. […]
DUBAI // One of the UAE’s most well-known designers, Lamya Abedin, wants to make the abaya an essential fixture in every woman’s wardrobe – not just in the Arab world, but around the globe. The founder of the couture line the Queen of Spades already sells her clothes in South Africa, her first venture outside the GCC. The popularity of her designs comes from the abaya doubling […]
The emirate of Sharjah has appointed HSBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered to manage a debut sukuk transaction, according to two sources away from the transaction. One of the sources said that Sharjah Islamic Bank and the investment banking arm of Kuwait Finance House, KFH Financial, were also mandated on the deal. The transaction could come as early as September. Sharjah would become the […]
DUBAI // Cinemas, restaurants and shops were packed as thousands escaped the scorching heat and enjoyed the first day of Eid Al Fitr in Dubai and Abu Dhabi malls. Dubai Mall welcomed crowds as many people who had spent the past month fasting for Ramadan made the most of the end of the holy month. Although most of those enjoying a public holiday were residents, the high […]
The United States faces an awkward rival in its first attempts in 40 years to export crude oil – Iran. Iran, whose economy has been throttled by Western sanctions that have halved its crude shipments, is now selling higher quality and cheaper oil to China that leaves little room for the U.S. crude to enter the world’s top energy consumer. While buyers in Japan and South Korea […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai is behind UK’s Heathrow International airport by only fewer than 3,000 passengers daily to become the world’s biggest airport for international traffic. Considering that this number is equivalent to just 12 flights, Dubai can be expected to overtake Heathrow any time in future. “It can be expected Dubai will power ahead, having earned the right to the title of world’s leading airport,” said […]
DUBAI // An online push by the Roads and Transport Authority and a private website to encourage car-pooling among commuters has been warmly received. The RTA website, Sharekni, allows users to register and find others who want to share the daily drive. Carpool Arabia does the same thing but is privately operated. They both say commuters are keen to avoid relentless rush-hour traffic, the challenge of finding […]
Regulators in Jordan have introduced a set of long-awaited rules for the issuance of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, paving the way for both the public and private sectors to tap into growing demand for sharia-compliant investments. Jordan is one of several Muslim-majority countries keen to develop their domestic Islamic finance sector and the government is studying a proposal to issue a sovereign sukuk, mirroring efforts by Egypt […]
Dubai construction company Arabtec’s former boss has sold about $4 million worth of shares in the group this week, cutting his stake slightly, stock exchange data showed. Arabtec’s shares have swung around wildly this year on apparent tensions between chief executive Hasan Ismaik and Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar Investments, also a major Arabtec shareholder. Ismaik resigned abruptly in June. Ismaik cut his stake to 28.77 percent […]
DUBAI // Scams, false claims and stories that do not bear out are causing concern among people who would otherwise be willing to do their zakat, or charity works, by helping beggars. One such ploy is where beggars appear at petrol stations, asking for money to help them continue their journey home. But if the Dh300,000 car was not enough of a mixed signal for Eric R, […]
DP World, the world’s third-largest port operator, said it is confident of exceeding industry growth predicted to reach about 5 percent in 2014 as it adds capacity and global trade picks up. First-half throughput grew 9.3 percent on a like-for-like basis to 29.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units across its group of container terminals, it said in a statement to Nasdaq Dubai today. On a reported basis, gross […]
