Residential property prices in Dubai are in the midst of another boom, but this time it’s fundamentals – and not speculation – at play, Standard Chartered Bank said in a new report, indicating that the rally will continue as long as the fundamentals remain in place. Economic growth, improving demographics, return of investor confidence and improving regulations have been cited as the primary factors fuelling a remarkable […]
Dubai’s growing population and improving economy are driving a rebound in the emirate’s housing market, rather than the type of speculation that fueled the 2008 boom, according to Standard Chartered. Residential property prices in Dubai are in the midst of another boom, but this time it’s fundamentals – and not speculation – a new report published by the bank said, indicating that the rally will continue as […]
A survey by Fund Advisors among respondents living in rented accommodation in Dubai has shown that 81 percent have no contents insurance. So events like theft, fire or damages by way of other incidents have no coverage. Furthermore, the UK’s daily newspaper The Telegraph found that, when insuring their contents, people often valued their clothes and valuables on worth at the point of valuation and not what […]
Media outlets as reporting that the Soffers’ big-name partner in the Miami Beach resort Fontainebleau , the government of Dubai, is ready to sell its 50 percent stake back to the family’s Turnberry Associates. The deal would mark a satisfying bookend for Jeffrey Soffer, who spearheaded buying the resort in 2005 and then completing a $700 million renovation in 2008 on the eve of the financial crisis, […]
Dubai Duty Free is planning to borrow $750 million from a syndicate of international banks in the coming weeks to help further finance the expansion of Dubai’s international airport, the company’s executive vice chairman Colm McLoughlin said. DDF, which operates all of the retail outlets at Dubai’s airports, raised its first international financing last year, a $1.75 billion, six-year syndicated loan with tranches in dollars and U.A.E. […]
Dubai’s Majid Al Futtaim (MAF), the operators of Carrefour stores in the Middle East which is buying out the French company’s 25 percent stake in their joint venture, is raising an extra $500 million through a revolving credit facility, a source familiar with the deal said on Tuesday. The mall operator, which delayed plans in June to raise at least $500 million from what would have been […]
A surge in lending to investors by brokerages in the United Arab Emirates has helped make Dubai the world’s second-best performing market this year, but has left it prey to volatility. Some investors have been able to make profits in the range of 40 to 60 percent this year on local stock markets but the question is whether such margin lending – borrowing with cash or holdings […]
A decline in Gulf Cooperation Council sovereign and state-owned corporate bonds in the event of a U.S. strike on Syria would make them a “screaming buy,” according to Sergey Dergachev at Union Investment Privatfonds. “These credits are extremely solid,” Frankfurt-based Dergachev, who helps oversee about $10 billion in emerging-market funds, said Aug. 30, singling out bonds issued by companies such as National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC […]
Saudi Arabia’s No.3 telecom operator Zain Saudi has appointed industry veteran Hassan Kabbani as chief executive with immediate effect, the firm said in a statement on Sunday. A native Arabic speaker from Lebanon, Kabbani replaces Fraser Curley, who became CEO of the loss-making company in March 2012. Kabbani has been recruited to help Zain fight back against better-resourced rivals Saudi Telecom Co (STC) and Etihad Etisalat (Mobily). […]
The U.S. military has not renewed its contract to buy jet fuel from Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) because other suppliers made cheaper bids, the U.S. Department of Defense said. Dubai government-owned ENOC was contracted by the U.S. military to supply jet fuel to Al Minhad Air Base near Dubai from mid-2011 to the start of September 2013. ENOC, which makes […]
Police have sealed off the Dubai Prosecution Building after a woman visitor threatened to detonate an explosive belt. Prosecution sources said that the woman – thought to be a Syrian in her late 30s – entered the building shortly after 1pm accompanied by a child, thought to be aged 6, and stood next to the reception desk. Sources said the woman was known to prosecutors and had […]
It’s Dubai all the way, but for the shouting. From all available indications, the dice has turned in favour of Dubai to host the prestigious Expo 2020. A final round of inspections has been gone through and even in this round, reportedly everything has gone in Dubai’s favour. According to The National, a six-strong team from the Bureau International des Expositions, which oversees world expos, spent five […]
The patriotism of wealthy overseas Indians has helped the country avert economic crises in the past and it is little surprise that embattled policymakers are turning to them again to plug a record trade gap that is battering the rupee. This time, though, big investors among the more than 25-million overseas Indian community – the world’s second-largest diaspora – are staying away as the economic outlook darkens […]
DP World Ltd., the world’s third-largest ports operator, posted a 9.1 percent increase in first-half profit, beating analysts’ estimates, as it focused on fast-growing markets and monetized assets in Hong Kong. Net income rose to $264 million, or 31.8 cents a share, from $242 million, or 29.1 cents, the Dubai-based company said in a statement to Nasdaq Dubai today. The mean estimate of three analysts was for net income […]
Gulf stock markets stabilised by the close on Wednesday after plunging in early trade on the prospect of an escalation of Syria’s civil war, as the United States threatened a military strike on Damascus over the use of chemical weapons. Stocks had also tumbled on Tuesday and selling resumed on Wednesday morning as local retail investors, who have dominated trade in recent weeks, scrambled to lock in […]
Dubai and Kuwait City have been ranked in the top 10 biggest improving cities in a global livability survey released on Wednesday. The Economist Intelligence Unit said Dubai’s ranking at number 77 had improved 2.9 per cent in the past five years. Kuwait City, which came in at 81, was also amongst the top 10 most improved, with a 2.5 per cent jump. The survey ranks five […]
Dubai’s stock market reputation as a safe haven in the Middle East was jolted this week as the possibility of a U.S. military strike against Syria spooked all global asset classes. The benchmark DFM stock index slumped 7% on Aug. 27, making it the worst global stock market performer that day. It fell another 1% today as the prospect of Syria’s woes spreading to the wider region, […]
Emirates is breaking out of Dubai. In what will be a curious experiment for one of the world’s fastest-growing and most respected airlines, Emirates will begin flying daily from New York’s JFK International Airport to Milan starting Oct. 1. It will be one of the very few routes in the company’s vast network that doesn’t touch its Dubai hub. The JFK-Milan route is currently served with nonstop […]
A Dubai court has dismissed a Kuwaiti sheikh’s $21.4 million claim against UBS in which he alleged the Swiss bank failed to pay him for helping it become lead arranger on a $9 billion asset sale by Kuwaiti telecom operator Zain. The case highlighted the complexity of doing business in the Gulf, where personal connections to high-ranking officials or executives are often valued in deal making. But […]
Dubai’s stock index plunged the most in the world as the Obama administration vowed to hold Syria’s government liable for chemical weapons attacks. The DFM General Index slid 5.2 percent, the most August 2011 and the steepest slump among more than 90 global benchmarks tracked by Bloomberg, to 2,600.81 at 12:27 p.m. in Dubai. Emaar Properties , the United Arab Emirates’ biggest publicly traded developer, retreated to […]
The heightened economic activity in Dubai has undoubtedly been supported by the recovery of the emirate’s real estate sector, with capital values in some residential submarkets quickly closing in on their Q3 2008 pre-crisis peaks, Cluttons said in its latest market analysis. During Q2 alone, villa values rose by an average of 21%, compared to 24.4% last year. Apartments on the other hand recorded capital value increases […]
Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), owner of U.S.-based engine repair and maintenance business StandardAero, is in talks to merge parts of its business with British aircraft services firm BBA Aviation , it said on Monday. Dubai government-owned DAE said the talks were at a preliminary stage and gave no further details. Its statement came after the Sunday Times newspaper reported BBA was holding talks with StandardAero over a […]
Saudi British Bank (SABB), an affiliate of HSBC Holdings, is aiming to sell an Islamic bond by year-end to strengthen its capital base, two banking sources aware of the matter said on Monday. HSBC is advising SABB on the potential riyal-denominated sukuk issue to boost its Tier 2 capital position, the sources said, declining to be identified as the matter is not public. SABB’s total capital ratio […]
HSBC Holdings, the top arranger of debt issues in the Gulf Arab region, has named Mustafa Aziz Ata to run its debt capital markets business for the Middle East and North Africa, an internal memo from the bank showed. Aziz, who joined the bank in 2004, is currently a director in its global capital markets division. In his new role, Aziz will report to Russell Schofield-Bezer, head of EMEA debt capital markets, […]
