When planners designed the Business Bay district in Dubai at the height of the last real-estate boom, they boasted it would become the largest business and office district in the Middle East. Yet a visit to the site today suggests there is a lot more living than working taking place, with nannies pushing carriages and children romping around a playground. Throughout Dubai, developers are restarting projects that […]
Passenger flows through Dubai’s main airport, the world’s second busiest for international traffic, jumped 15.2 percent in 2013 thanks to expansion of its route network and the use of wide-body planes, airport authorities said on Wednesday. Passenger traffic last year totalled a record 66.4 million people. In December, more than 6 million passengers passed though the airport for the first time, an increase of 13.6 percent from […]
A unit of Dubai Holding, owned by the emirate’s ruler, has sold a piece of land to fast-growing shopping mall developer Majid Al Futtaim (MAF), the latest in a series of plot sales initiated by state-linked firms in the emirate to raise funds. The unit, TECOM Investments, sold 1 million square feet of land at its International Media Production Zone (IMPZ), a development that spreads across 43 […]
For a bellwether, Emaar Properties — builder of the world’s tallest tower — has done quite well for itself in the past year: reflecting Dubai’s meteoric real estate sector recovery with a 104% gain in 2013 that underpinned the stock market’s stellar performance. On Tuesday, Emaar’s stock rallied another 6.3% to 8.24 dirhams ($2.25) – its highest closing level since early September 2008, when Dubai’s much celebrated […]
Arabtec Holding, a big Dubai-based construction firm, said it was discussing a number of large projects with the Iraqi government and would open an office in Baghdad to help its business in the country. The office will promote ventures which Arabtec formed last year with South Korea’s Samsung Engineering and GS Engineering & Construction, in line with the company’s strategy of diversifying into higher-margin segments such as […]
GEMS Education celebrated the listing of a $200 million (AED 735 million) Sukuk on NASDAQ Dubai on Tuesday, with founder and Chairman Sunny Varkey ringing the market opening bell at Dubai Financial Market (DFM). The nominal value of Sukuk currently listed in Dubai has now reached $13.28 billion (AED 48.8 billion). More than 50% of that sum, amounting to $6.85 billion (AED 25.2 billion), has come from […]
Dubai’s flagship airline Emirates is expected to move all of its operations to the emirate’s new Al Maktoum International Airport after 2020, a senior executive at Al Maktoum said on Tuesday. Big international carriers, including Emirates, have so far not indicated any plans to move to the new airport, which officially launched passenger services in October last year. “Emirates have to move to the new airport at […]
Gold’s biggest slump in three decades has been a boon for MKS (Switzerland) SA’s PAMP refinery near the Italian border in Castel San Pietro, whose bullion sales to China surged to a record as demand rose for coins, bars and jewelry. As prices plunged 28 percent in 2013, investors dumped a record 869.1 metric tons from gold-backed funds traded mostly in the U.S. and Europe. Much of […]
The head of Dubai’s Chamber of Commerce strongly disagrees with the estimate of how many jobs the city’s 2020 Expo win will bring to the emirate – he thinks it will be way more. Analysts have calculated that Dubai’s world fair triumph will create 277,000 jobs, about 14 per cent of the current population of Dubai. But not only does Hamad Buamim reckon the figure is feasible, […]
Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest lender, missed analysts’ forecasts despite an 8 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit as a surge in the amount set aside by the lender to meet loan losses offset increased net interest income. The lender, 55.6-percent owned by state fund Investment Corp of Dubai, made a net profit of 673 million dirhams ($183.2 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, a statement […]
Crossing the red light on the tramway intersection will invite a fine of Dh2,000 to Dh5,000 and revocation of the offender’s license for period of 30 days to 3 months, according to safety regulations issued by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council. If the accident leads to fatality, a minimum fine of Dh10,000 (Dh30,000 maximum) will […]
A leading rights watchdog said a Dubai news conference Thursday on human rights issues in the United Arab Emirates was abruptly cancelled, a move it alleges underscores threats to freedom of expression in the Gulf nation, AP reported. Human Rights Watch said it was told Wednesday by the Novotel hotel, where the event was due to take place, that the conference was being called off because a […]
|The Arabian Post Special| Reports suggest Dubai has reached an agreement with Abu Dhabi on $20 billion of debt, which it arranged to avert a payment default in the wake of Dubai’s crippling financial crisis. “The rumor is that Abu Dhabi has reached an arrangement with Dubai over the $20 billion payment,” Reuters quoted Mohammed Ali Yasin, managing director of NBAD Securities LLC, as saying on phone. […]
Emaar Properties, Dubai’s top listed company by market value, quietly replaced its Group Chief Executive Low Ping late last year, appointing Abdulla Lahej as her replacement, industry sources aware of the matter said. Neither Ping’s departure, which sources say happened towards the end of 2013, nor the appointment of Lahej was made public by Emaar, which has built the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa, and spearheaded […]
The impact of Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on illegal foreign workers is spreading through its economy, moving beyond the labour-intensive construction industry to sectors as far afield as banking and telecommunications. Nearly 1 million foreign workers, out of a total of roughly 9 million, are estimated to have left Saudi Arabia between last March and November, as authorities enforce work permit rules and corporate quotas for employment of […]
DAVOS: Dubai retailer Majid Al Futtaim, which holds the Carrefour franchise in the Middle East, plans to invest about $2.3 billion in Egypt in the next few years, its chief executive said on Wednesday, a sign of Gulf investors’ growing interest in the Egyptian economy. “Total investments on the plan, including Carrefour, should be around 16 billion Egyptian pounds over the next four to five years,” Iyad […]
By Simeon Kerr The many daily flights between Dubai and Tehran are always busy. But these days the Iranians heading home after business and shopping trips are being joined by rising numbers of briefcase-toting western and Asian passengers. They are part of a new wave of foreign investors eager to investigate business opportunities in post-sanctions Iran, a potentially lucrative trade that Dubai, the commercial hub of the […]
Abu Dhabi will pay Exxon Mobil Corp. and Inpex Corp. more to pump oil at the largest field off the emirate’s coast as it extends a contract with the companies. Exxon and Japan’s Inpex lengthened their deal for the Upper Zakum field in the Arabian Gulf by 15 years through 2041, the Asian company said today in a statement, without giving further terms. The companies may get […]
Dubai has initiated a series of bold new measures and incentives including fee waivers and reduced approval timeline for three and four star hotel projects to further stimulate the growth of its vibrant hospitality sector. His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, in his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai, on Monday pronounced a string of directives to this […]
Gulf Finance House EC (GFH) climbed to the highest in more than 22 months after the investment company said it signed an agreement with a group of British investors to sell 75 percent of its stake in Leeds United Plc. The shares gained 9.6 percent to 0.86 dirhams in Dubai, the highest close since March 2012. GFH will retain a 10 percent holding in the club after […]
Dubai’s office spaces are witnessing an “uptick in activity” in the wake of the city’s winning Expo 2020 bid, with growing demand in Business Bay and Jebel Ali. According to Property Finder Group, job creation between 2013 and 2021 is estimated at over 277,000 and a number of major international corporates and start-ups are expected to establish their offices in Dubai in the years leading up to […]
Reliance Industries Ltd., owner of the world’s biggest oil refining complex, reported an unexpected increase in profit as earnings from investments and lower finance costs compensated for a drop in operating income. Net income rose to 55.1 billion rupees ($894 million), or 17.10 rupees a share, in the three months ended Dec. 31 from 55 billion rupees, or 17 rupees a share, a year earlier, according to […]
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will court global business in Davos next week after winning an easing of some economic sanctions, but any trade bonanza depends on the long-term success of nuclear diplomacy. A U.S. stranglehold on Iran’s access to the international financial system, the uncertain future of talks on its nuclear program beyond a six-month initial deal, and vested interests in the Islamic Republic suspicious of Western […]
|By Asa Fitch| Iranian traders in Dubai are guardedly hopeful that business will rebound as sanctions relief begins to go into effect next week. The European Union and U.S. are set to give Iran access to some of its oil revenues abroad and allow for freer trade in energy products providing the Islamic Republic meets the terms of a six-month agreement stipulating monitoring of nuclear facilities and […]
