OPEC has seemingly dropped any attempt at trying to fulfill its founding mission and manage the global oil market. For Saudi Arabia’s Ali al-Naimi, the most powerful and longest-serving of the group’s oil ministers, it may have seemed like history was repeating itself. There are several striking parallels between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ current situation and the period from 1997 to 1999, when the group lost […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The UAE’s growth in new business was the weakest since April 2012, according to the purchase manager’s index (PMI) data for November. Companies also saw their pricing power diminish while input costs rose further. But competitive pressures meant that charges fell regardless. The UAE’s non-oil private sector expansion strengthened in November, having eased to a two-and-a-half year low during October. Business conditions improved […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s City Football Group (CFG), which owns a number football related clubs and businesses, including Manchester City FC, New York City FC, Melbourne City FC, and a minority stake in Yokohama F. Marinos, has announced a partnership with a consortium of high profile Chinese institutional investors to create an unprecedented platform for the growth of CFG clubs and […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Saudi nationals engaged in gold and jewellery business believe that the new foreign investment law, which allows expatriates to set up fully-owned businesses in the kingdom, would ultimately drive them away from their traditional business. According to Saudi media reports, they complain that some Arab expatriates have entered the market by obtaining Saudi citizenship, GCC passports and foreign investment license. A Abdul Ghani […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the IFC Asset Management Company are investing $27 million in Souq, the largest e-commerce platform in the Middle East and North Africa. The investment will support the company’s growth, boost e-commerce in the region, and help create jobs and drive innovation. The investment will help Souq diversify its offerings and enhance its logistics and […]
|By Arabian Staff| Loan defaults and business owners fleeing the country leaving behind huge debts are becoming a routine affair in Dubai and other parts of the UAE, observers point out. According to EmiratesNBD, an increasing number of SME owners are being forced to flee and somewhat draws a parallel with the situation in the aftermath of the 2009 financial crisis. The problems of a slowing economy […]
|By TAP Staff| Standard Chartered cut 11 sales and trading jobs in Dubai, including four managing director roles, it was reported. According to Bloomberg, the exits include those of Vikrant Bhansali, regional head of institutional sales; Farhan Aziz, head of credit solutions and Jillian Correa, regional head of flow. Standard Chartered has “acted to reduce management layers at a global level, and as a result, will have […]
|By TAP Staff| Air Arabia results have disappointed market consensus, due to lower margins, but analysts see the airline continuing to focus on expansions in the future. According to Mubasher Trade (MTRe) analysts, despite the disappointing Q3 2015 results, they maintain BUY/MODERATE RISK rating for the company with a price target of AED2.06/share and expected total return of +62%. Revenues increased by 6% YoY to AED1.12 billion […]
|By TAP Staff| With the departure of AC056, Air Canada inaugurated new service between Toronto and Dubai, the newest addition to its growing international network. The new route will be operated using Air Canada’s most modern aircraft, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner featuring its new cabin interior design with three classes of service, including its next generation, lie flat suites in International Business Class. “Air Canada is very […]
Boston-based enterprise storage provider ClearSky Data said it has raised $27 million in a Series B investment round led by Polaris Partners, along with Akamai Technologies. The money will be used by ClearSky to refine its managed service delivery model for enterprise storage, which the company said combines the performance and availability of primary storage with the economics and scalability of the cloud. ClearSky made a splash […]
|TAP Special by K Raveendran| Landmark events about the development of a shopping mall generally involve major leasing deals or signing up flagship brands, or the launch of the mall itself. But Qatar’s Tawar Mall, coming up in a prime Doha locality, was the scene of a bit of fanfare this week for none of the above. The mall owners, belonging to the leading Qatari business family […]
|TAP Special by K Raveendran| Landmark events about the development of a shopping mall generally involve major leasing deals or signing up flagship brands, or the launch of the mall itself. But Qatar’s Tawar Mall, coming up in a prime Doha locality, was the scene of a bit of fanfare this week for none of the above. The mall owners, belonging to the leading Qatari business family […]
|By TAP Staff| September data from Emirates NBD Dubai Economy Tracker signaled a sustained upturn in output levels within Dubai’s private sector economy, helped by growth across all three key sub-categories of activity monitored by the survey. Overall rates of business activity and new orders growth were, however, softer than those seen on average through the first half of 2015. As a result, private sector companies were […]
| By Yaroslav Trofimov| Despised by some, admired by others, the U.S. has been the Middle East’s principal power for decades, providing its allies with guidance and protection. Now, however, with Russia and Iran thrusting themselves boldly into the region’s affairs, that special role seems to be melting away. As seasoned politicians and diplomats survey the mayhem, they struggle to recall a moment when America counted for […]
TEHRAN — As the music ended and the crowd rose in a standing ovation, several women in the audience could be seen with heads bared, the obligatory head scarves draped around their necks. This was no underground concert by an indie band in North Tehran, though. Rather, it was a recital by a classical lute player in Vahdat Hall. As the opera house emptied, the women casually […]
SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia is leveraging low oil prices to accelerate development of its downstream petrochemical derivatives sector, and will add over 30 million tonnes of production capacity by 2020, raising production to 126 million tonnes from 2014 levels of 94.6 million tonnes, the latest edition of The Oil & Gas Year (TOGY) revealed. Capital expenditure in the petrochemical sector as well is set to further […]
DUBAI // Luxury is what comes to mind when a person walks through Mall of the Emirates’ new extension, which includes several brands new to the region and the Middle East’s first and only IMAX with a laser screen. Mall owner, the Majid Al Futtaim group, unveiled the Dh1 billion Evolution 2015 on Monday after 18 months and 15 million man hours going into building two domes, […]
Janet Yellen may have unwittingly helped the Indian dollar-loan market rebound from a three-year low. Less than a week after the Federal Reserve Chair delayed raising U.S. interest rates, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. hired 16 banks for a $1.5 billion loan and Rural Electrification Corp. also approached lenders. That takes the pipeline of local dollar-denominated loans planned, mandated or in syndication to more than $5 […]
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, addresses a plenary meeting of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit 2015 at United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, New York, September 25, 2015. Reuters/Mike Segar SAN FRANCISCO Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not only speak to Silicon Valley’s biggest executives during his two-day visit to the U.S. tech hub but will also take questions from some of Facebook Inc’s 1.5 billion […]
INTERNATIONAL. Gleaming glass skyscrapers, state-of-the-art technology, and wealthy merchant families have replaced the Gulf’s muddy towns and villages populated by traders and pearl fishers that once lacked electricity, running water or modern communications. The region’s modern day projection of a visionary cutting- edge, 21st century urban environment masks however the fact that some things have not changed. Gulf states continue to be ruled by the same families, […]
UAE. The Middle East & North Africa ranks well above North America, Europe and Latin America in terms of market growth opportunities according to the Grant Thornton Global Dynamism Index (GDI) 2015. However, the region is lagging behind on a number of other indicators including labour market and financing environment. The GDI – which combines 22 indicators across five growth areas to identify the best business growth […]
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) has raised Dh504 million ($137 million) in its rights issue, which was nearly three times oversubscribed with Dh1.46 billion in subscriptions received. The rights issue, the first tradable rights issue for a bank in the UAE, forms part of the comprehensive capital plan to support ADIB’s strong growth plans. Following the close of the subscription period on September 10, all 168 million […]
|By TAP Staff| Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) has successfully raised AED 504 million in the first tradable rights issue for a bank in the UAE. The rights issue, which forms part of the comprehensive capital plan to support ADIB’s strong growth trajectory, was nearly 3 times oversubscribed with AED 1.46 billion in subscriptions received. Following the close of the subscription period on 10 September 2015, all […]
INTERNATIONAL. The era of the autonomous vehicle (AV) is fast approaching. Mass-market adoption of AVs will be the greatest inflection point for the automotive industry since the introduction of the assembly line and will confer tremendous benefits on society, according to a new report from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The report, titled Revolution Versus Regulation: The Make-or-Break Questions About Autonomous Vehicles, is being released today. It […]
