The hotel was honoured at the MENA Travel Awards 2014 and Sharjah Tourism Excellence Award events DUBAI (May 28, 2014) – Ramada Sharjah received two separate accolades honouring its service quality and facilities at the MENA Travel Awards 2014 and Sharjah Tourism Excellence Award this spring. The hotel won its first Silver Award in the ‘Best 4-Star Business/Corporate Hotel’ category at the MENA Travel Awards 2014 on […]
ABU DHABI // More than 1,000 cases of employers accused of breaking labour laws by ill-treating their workers were referred to prosecutors in the past year, a new report reveals. The prosecutions came amid a massive enforcement campaign by the Ministry of Labour, whose staff conducted 138,801 general inspections, 11,807 visits to workers’ accommodation and 80,571 visits to construction sites to ensure labourers were not working during […]
DUBAI // Two Mediterranean olive trees each more than a millennium old have found a new home on The World islands. The trees, dated between 1,300 and 1,400 years old, are being planted on the Heart of Europe chain of man-made islands off the Dubai coast by the UAE-based real estate developer Kleindienst Group. In all, 58 trees comprised of more than 10 varieties native to the […]
Mashreqbank, the Dubai-based lender owned by the Al Ghurair family, plans to raise about $500 million from a three-year loan as it seeks funds to expand, three bankers familiar with the plan said. Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) are helping coordinate the fundraising with five other banks also expected to participate, one of the people said, […]
The chief executive of Arabtec Holding has raised his stake in the Dubai-based contractor to 21.46 percent, the company said, in an investment worth about $1 billion which it described as a vote of confidence in the group’s prospects. Hasan Ismaik, who has been leading a growth strategy at the company since taking charge early last year, bought the shares because of “his strong belief in the […]
Emaar Properties has secured a $1.5 billion sharia-compliant loan from five local lenders, two banking sources aware of the matter said on Wednesday, the latest Dubai-based borrower to take advantage of buoyant markets to reprice debt. A number of state-linked entities in the emirate have sought to refinance existing debts, even if the loans have years until maturity, as market sentiment towards Dubai improves after its debt […]
In Dubai, a city known for some of the world’s most luxurious hotels and penthouses, developer Union Properties PJSC (UPP) is looking to tap demand from people who want to visit the emirate without breaking the bank. The company plans to build around 1,000 hotel rooms in the next five years to address a shortage in the middle- and lower-end of the market, managing director Ahmad Al […]
DUBAI // Engineering student Chibuke Enekwechi has plans to develop a drone that could be used to monitor pupils sitting exams instead of relying on teachers to do the job. The final-year student from the American University in Dubai said on Tuesday that he hoped to come up with a winning design that could help him bag Dh1 million and possibly a further US$1m (Dh3.6m) in the […]
ABU DHABI // An impoverished farmer in India whose son was one of 13 workers killed in the Dubai bus crash spoke on Tuesday of his family’s grief, their shattered dreams and his struggle with debt. Ramchand Gupta, 50, borrowed money from relatives to send his son Sanjay to the UAE four months ago in the hope of a better life. The plan was that he would […]
Etisalat expects to conclude a long-delayed deal to allow competition in UAE fixed-line telecommunications services by the end of 2014, a company document states, which could threaten its dominant position in the lucrative sector. Etisalat and rival du have been unable to reach an agreement over so-called bitstream access, or network-sharing, in the United Arab Emirates, despite beginning talks in 2009 and the government being the largest […]
Qatar raised the foreign ownership limit for shares listed on Doha’s stock exchange, less than a week before an MSCI Inc. upgrade to emerging market status. The benchmark index rose. Investors outside the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council will be able to hold as much as 49 percent of a company listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange after Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani gave instructions to […]
|By TAP Staff| The listing of Emaar Properties mall business on Dubai Financial Market instead of Nadaq Dubai as originally envisaged would necessitate an exemption from the DFM rule regarding the minimum size of the float. Emaar is floating only 25 percent of the mall business, while the minimum float required for a listing on DFM is 55 percent. Nasdaq Dubai, on the other hand, allows floatation […]
DUBAI // A wish list of 21 requests from Indian expatriates in the UAE was delivered to Narendra Modi’s office on Monday as the Bharatiya Janata Party leader was sworn in as prime minister. It included long-standing demands such as voting rights for non-resident Indians, encouraging investment in infrastructure, joint-venture incentives and exemption from restrictive taxes. “These issues relate to NRIs all over the world, not just […]
DUBAI // A shelter for women and children who have been have victims of abuse has already dealt with 187 cases so far this year. Most of the victims were women, half were Emirati and the majority applied in person for help. The Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (DFWAC), the only shelter in Dubai for these types of cases, dealt with 414 cases last year. Of […]
A Dubai-based startup has raised $1.6 million in new funding to help launch its software that better connects social media users and the brands they follow. Brndstr Inc. (pronounced ‘brandster’) uses software that allows the brand’s Twitter accounts to automatically respond to #hashtags with offers and vouchers. For example, if a Twitter user retweets a brand’s tweet, then that user can automatically be sent a voucher giving […]
DUBAI // Safety on the country’s roads is a major concern for two thirds of the UAE, according to a YouGov survey on road safety. The survey, commissioned by The National, revealed that 73 per cent of residents in Dubai were worried about road safety, 71 per cent in Sharjah and 65 per cent in Abu Dhabi. Those most concerned were Asians, with 83 per cent, and […]
The Middle East’s oil boom was made in China HSBC As the world’s second-largest consumer of oil, China in the past decade has relied heavily on the Middle East to secure the resources required to fuel its ascendancy to become an economic superpower. In doing so, it overtook the U.S. as principal investor in the Middle East and played a pivotal role in transforming the region by […]
The surge in oil prices driven by Chinese demand has added $1 trillion to output in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries over 10 years, according to HSBC Holdings Plc. The six-member bloc’s gross domestic product increased to $1.7 trillion between 2003 and 2013, bringing per capital GDP to an average of $35,000, HSBC said in a report on the effect of a “globalizing China” on the Middle […]
Emaar Properties, owner of the world’s biggest mall, hired HSBC Holdings and Emirates NBD as bookrunners for the initial public offering of its retail arm, with Rothschild as financial adviser, five people familiar with the matter said. National Bank of Abu Dhabi and EFG Hermes Holding Co. will also be bookrunners on the sale of between 25 percent to 30 percent of the malls unit on the […]
Islamic finance has been one of the fastest-growing sectors in global finance but the industry has yet to shake off perceptions about high costs and complexity that are holding back some issuers. Sukuk, or Islamic bonds that follow religious principles such as a ban on interest and speculation, are now a major funding tool for companies in the Middle East and southeast Asia, and are becoming increasingly […]
The MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition, one of the biggest startup events in the Middle East, will announce its winner on Thursday evening at an event in Cairo. Here’s the five startups that caught the Wall Street Journal’s eye from the shortlisted semi-finalists. Elwafeyat.com: The concept of Cairo-based Elwafeyat.com is dead easy to understand. The website is an online platform to honor deceased family members and […]
Uber San Francisco-based Uber — a smartphone app that connects passengers with cars for hire — officially launches in the Saudi capital Riyadh today after three months of beta testing, entering a new market with some unique opportunities. Saudi Arabia is a country with virtually no public transport and where half of the population — women — is not allowed to drive. Many of the regular cabs available […]
Leeds’ former managing director David Haigh has been arrested in Dubai for alleged financial irregularities during his time at the club, it has been reported. Haigh, 36, has been accused by the club’s former owner Gulf Finance House of wrongdoing under its ownership and in connection with the sale of Leeds to Italian Massimo Cellino. Haigh, an employee of GFH before he resigned from the Dubai-based equity […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai outscores all US cities in terms of its healthcare system, the latest Cities of Opportunities report has revealed. Dubai is the only Middle Eastern city that features in the Price Waterhouse Cooper study takes the pulse of 30 cities at the heart of the world’s economy and culture. Dubai ranked 5th in global affordability, that measures cost of living, purchasing power and corporate […]
