The malls unit of Dubai’s Emaar Properties will hold meetings with fixed income investors ahead of a potential benchmark-sized sukuk issue, Emaar said on Thursday, in what would be a debut debt market transaction for the subsidiary. Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, Mashreq, Morgan Stanley, First Gulf Bank , National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Noor Bank and Standard Chartered will be arranging the meetings on Emaar’s behalf, […]
An aerial view of Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi Reuters Capacity at seaports and airports in the Middle East is growing faster than regional trade, potentially jeopardizing the viability of billions of dollars worth of new investment in transportation infrastructure. Government-led investment in regional logistics and transport has taken off in the past decade, driven by energy-rich Gulf Arab countries trying to carve out a niche as […]
SHARJAH // Hindus and Sikhs in the emirate can complete the last rites for the dead at Sharjah’s first crematorium, which was finally opened this week. The crematorium is the fourth in the country and has become operational after a hold-up of more than a year owing to documentation, clearance permissions and delay in the electricity connection provided to the site. “People have been approaching us for […]
Inside a nondescript office building in central London, a roomful of men and women sit at computer screens and talk over Skype with people in faraway places. Sharp-edged Cantonese fills the air, and a flat-screen TV emits a continuous din. It’s the chanting, singing Midlands crowd at Birmingham, England’s Villa Park Stadium: Liverpool at Aston Villa. The match has just kicked off. The name of the company, […]
ABU DHABI // Yas Marina Circuit is looking to stage major international charity events after staff visited New York to gain ideas from a major run there. Officials from the track visited the Big Apple last month to attend the city’s UAE Healthy Kidney 10K road run and learn about staging the best in community fitness programmes. The annual Healthy Kidney event, a tribute to the founding […]
‘As a scientist, all I can do is tell the truth based on the evidence,’ says Dr Jane Plant Photo: MARTIN POPE In 1993, the breast cancer that had plagued Jane Plant since 1987 returned for the fifth time. It came in the shape of a secondary tumour – a lump in her neck the size of half a boiled egg. Doctors told her that she had only […]
Iran’s smart set turned out in force for this year’s Tehran Art Auction, spending a record amount as the country’s modern and contemporary art scene thrives despite economic sanctions. The annual event on Friday was a sell-out, raising $5.1 million from the auction of works by Iranian artists, more than double the amount fetched last year. While Western sanctions since 2010 on Iran’s oil and financial sectors […]
The new Palestinian government, scheduled to be sworn in on Monday at 1 p.m. (6 a.m. Eastern time) in the West Bank city of Ramallah, will be led by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and is to consist of 16 other ministers, some handling more than one portfolio. Three ministers are to be from the Gaza Strip following a reconciliation pact signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization, dominated […]
Asian shares edged higher on Friday, catching a lift from another record close on Wall Street, while the dollar groaned under the pressure of slumping U.S. yields. The S&P 500 index .SPX posted its third record closing high in four sessions, as investors shrugged off the first quarterly contraction of the U.S. economy in three years and focused on signs of a strengthening labor market. MSCI’s broadest […]
A Ukrainian military helicopter has been shot down in Slovyansk, killing 14 people including an army general, as rebels and government forces continued fierce battles in the country’s east. The acting Ukraine president, Oleksandr Turchynov, told parliament on Thursday: “I have just received information that terrorists using Russian anti-aircraft missiles shot down our helicopte. It had been ferrying servicemen for a change ofduty.” He said General Serhiy Kulchytskiy was among […]
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 […]
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 […]
It’s every chief executive’s dream: make a potentially game-changing acquisition and your biggest shareholder gives you a massive no-strings-attached grant to help seal the deal. That’s the reality Etisalat enjoys after the Abu Dhabi government gave the telco a $500 million grant to complete the $5.65 billion purchase of Vivendi SA’s 53% stake in Maroc Telecom, according to a new bond prospectus. “In connection with the acquisition, the group […]
‘No country demand anything like the same assurances as the USA immigration authorities’ Photo: GETTY Having recently returned from the US, I feel obliged to offer a few thoughts about American transport. Because – certainly at Los Angeles and New York – something has gone very badly wrong. A lot of people complain about Heathrow and Gatwick but the truth is that we British have quietly set about […]
India’s rupee fell the most in a month on speculation the central bank intervened to curb gains that threaten exports, while importers stepped up dollar purchases to pay month-end bills. The rupee has gained 2.8 percent this month in Asia’s best performance on optimism a new government will step up efforts to revive the economy. Narendra Modi will be sworn in as India’s prime minister today after […]
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 […]
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Cameron. Photo: AFP Tory MPs may have agreed not to panic in the light of Ukip’s big win, but that doesn’t mean David Cameron isn’t going to come under a huge amount of pressure from them in the coming days and weeks to do something, anything, to show he’s got the message. One of their demands is bound to be that the […]
|By K Raveendran| It is indeed a milestone in the history of UAE’s expatriate business. The purchase of a controlling stake in Travelex by Dr B R Shetty is easily the biggest acquisition by an expatriate both in terms of its value and profile. It is also perhaps the biggest global brand acquired by a UAE-based Indian entrepreneur. There have been buyouts of higher values, but these […]
CAIRO — Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former army officer soon to be Egypt’s president, promises to remedy Egypt’s crippling fuel shortage by installing energy-efficient bulbs in every home socket, even if he has to send a government employee to screw in each one. “I’m not leaving a chance for people to act on their own,” Mr. Sisi said in his first and most extensive television interview. “My […]
ON THE EAST BANK OF THE JORDAN RIVER — After visiting a site on Saturday where Jesus is believed to have been baptized, Pope Francis spoke about Jesus’s humility, “the fact that he bends down to wounded humanity in order to heal us.” So when some burly men prepared to carry a doctor in a wheelchair up four steps to the stage for a blessing, perhaps it […]
In the world’s biggest country, railways are still a route to riches. With nearly 1 billion passengers a year and $42 billion in annual sales, the state company Russian Railways is a giant commercial opportunity. At its head is Vladimir Yakunin, an old friend and long-standing ally of President Vladimir Putin. He oversees a company that strikes international deals, issues bonds to major investors and plans hugely […]
Pakistan’s insurance firms have resolved a legal dispute with regulators which allows them to offer takaful, or Islamic insurance, a move expected to attract new players and boost competition in the sector. Pakistan introduced new takaful rules in 2012, allowing the use of takaful windows, which enables insurers to offer sharia-compliant and conventional products side by side, provided client money is segregated. This prompted a legal challenge […]
National Bank of Abu Dhabi plans to set up a regional financial base in India before the end of this year as part of its overseas expansion strategy, two sources aware of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. The largest lender by market value in the United Arab Emirates is the first Emirati bank to be granted a banking licence in India since 1980. It joins two […]
The BBC’s John Inverdale got himself into trouble when he posited that Marion Bartoli ‘never going to be much of a looker’ Photo: Reuters In 1994, a 20-year-old trainee physiotherapist received a letter from Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United Football Club, declining her request for a work placement. Ferguson explained his reasoning thus: “Most of the players felt that football was very much a male sport, […]
